The Golden Leaf of Hogwarts
by Naiva Nala
Summary: Yondaime once had a cousin that decided to take on the burden of Kyuubi, turning her into a baby. 10 years later, she gets a letter from Hogwarts. Accepting it, she sets out into a world she thought she would never see again. Crossover with Harry Potter.
1. Awakening From A Dream

**Disclaimer: I do **_**not**_** own Naruto or Harry Potter including the characters. The only thing I have is this story.**

Yondaime smirked behind his desk. Without shifting any attention from his paperwork, he said in a low voice:

"You know I can see you, so come out and report, dear friend." It was late night and the stars shined brightly in the night sky. He felt the chakra move again and wondered why didn't his cousin hide it better if she really wanted to sneak up on him. What he saw surprised him. A tall, old man finally appeared in front of him, wearing a dark heavy coat that made his body look like a shapeless piece of fabric. Not letting his surprise show, he glanced up from his desk and waited for the man to say something.

"She did it, our war is over. Her teamwork with the other child was so precise; it was hard to believe that they never saw each other before."

"Then where is my cousin now?" Yondaime tried not to look worried. The man cleared his throat and then said in a low voice:

"She must have used up too much energy. I don't know how she did it, but she shape shifted her body to conserve her chakra." The man took out a bundle of violet fabric that he was holding in his sleeve before. Hidden within the blankets was a small child that was quietly sleeping. Yondaime looked up in disbelief at the man standing before him.

"What the hell happened in there t-that she was forced to use such measures to save herself?"

"I don't really know, I wasn't there to see it. When I got there, Nala was there in this form. She had a letter with her addressed to you, which is why I brought her here." The man gave Yondaime a piece of blue colored paper. "It has a spell on it so no one than the rightful owner can read it, without doubt one of her brilliant inventions…" He continued talking as white words started appearing on the paper. "…It could also be a trap from someone to mislead you…"

"No, this is from her." Yondaime suddenly cut the man of without looking up from the letter.

"How can you know?"

"Because as usual, she wants to take everything on herself."

Her plan was brilliant, Yondaime had to admit. He never though that she would want to protect his son that much. She wanted him to seal the Kyuubi inside of her, which is why she shape-shifted like that. No, she didn't wanted him to, she ordered him to. Sighting slightly to let off the weight of the situation, he said to the man:

"Thank you, Dumbledore-san, leave her with me. It appears that after helping to save your world, she wants to do the same in here."

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Uchiha-Akamaki Nala stared at the dull white ceiling of Konoha's hospital, only

one though in her young, three-year-old mind.

_Wait for the night._ The strange voice kept telling her. Too tired to rebel against it, she sighted and shifted herself so she could look out the window. She wondered just what will happen this night, because the voice inside of her head never talked to her this much. She cursed this day, for today was the day she was born, October 10th, and she hated every minute of it. Everyone, even those of the Uchiha clan, her own family, were extremely mean to her on this day.

Nala shifted in her bed again and hissed with pain. She couldn't feel her legs because of the long run from some drunken Konoha chunnin, who decided that she was a perfect target for their kunai practice. Had the ANBU didn't show up, she would be dead by now. She forcibly shook her head, trying to get her mind of her injuries and focused her mind on her two cousins, Sasuke and Itachi.

"_They should be eating dinner right now._" She sighted as she heard her own stomach grumble. She didn't have anything to eat since this morning.

"Hungry?" An oddly familiar voice said behind her. The person's voice was warm and gave Nala a strange feeling of nostalgia. She slightly shifted her head and almost jumped up when she saw the face of the newcomer.

A man with amazingly fluffy white hair and ANBU armor approached her, carrying a plate with some fruit. Due to his dog mask it was impossible to make out his age. He put the plate before her and sat down on the chair next to Nala's bed, waiting for her to start eating.

Nala sat up, ignoring the pain like any other real Uchiha would do and looked at the man, not knowing if she could take the food or not. It could just be a joke and he could snatch the food away from her at the last second, like other people liked to do. She glanced from the ANBU to the plate and back. After some though, she rejected the possibility of a trap, because it wouldn't make any sense for the person that saved her life just few hours ago do something like that. Another grumbling of her stomach decided it; Nala carefully picked up a piece of an apple from the plate and started chewing it, not loosing her eyes from the man. As she ate the first piece, she could feel that he was grinning under his mask. She ate half the plate before he started speaking again:

"Feels better now, doesn't it?" His voice sounded softer than before but didn't loose its seriousness. "Oh, where are my manners! My name is Hatake Kakashi!" He said, adding a victorious sound to his name. Nala smiled at his expression and then minded her own manners:

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Kakashi-san." She tried to sound professional and emotionless like an Uchiha. "I'm Uchiha Nala. Thank you for saving me." Nala added quickly.

The room then fell into a comfortable silence, which was only distracted by Nala's quiet chewing. She was grateful for the food; she didn't eat something as refreshing in a long time. There was some other, almost unnoticeable taste to it, but Nala was too hungry to think about it. After she finished her food, Nala yawned and then quickly fell asleep.

Kakashi once again grinned under his mask. The sleeping drug he snuck into the food had worked. He quietly got up from his chair and then tucked the sleeping child in, almost with a mother like precision. He wondered if he ever copied that ability or if it was his own.

"_She would need all the sleep she can get, if she is to recover from those kunai wounds._" He though as he left the room to go stand outside. This was to be the beginning of a very boring guard duty.

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"**Yo!**"

"Leave me alone…" Nala, eyes still closed and partly sleeping told whoever it was that was trying to wake her up. She still felt little tired and…

"**Wake up brat!**" Yelled the new voice, empowered by a viscous dose of killer intent. When Nala felt the killer intent the person that was talking to her was giving off, she quickly jumped to her feet, ready to fight. What she saw amazed her. She wasn't at the hospital anymore; instead, she was in a bare room build out of black and white stone that somehow managed to give off enough shine to be able to see in the room.

Nala looked up. The room was so big; she couldn't see the ceiling or the right wall. The only thing in the room was a large cage with golden bars. Nala decided to go check out the cage and almost fell over as she tried to make a step. She was much taller, her body lost the baby fat and now she looked like a thirteen year old.

"**Welcome.**" The strange voice said, as Nala clumsily made her way to the cage.

"What is going on here?" Nala said, while trying to balance her weight so she could move around little better. "And why do I look like a teenager?"

"**It's your mental age, kid, you will understand once you get your memory back.**" The thing behind the cage said in a strange tone, reminding Nala of Itachi when he gets really annoyed. But hopefully, this creature, what ever it is, wasn't going to throw her through a wall, like Itachi did. "**Prepare yourself. Getting your old memory back can be a rather painful experience.**"

"I'm always ready for anything." Nala hissed between her teeth, causing the creature to laugh.

"**Very well then.**" Nala then heard a loud, snap-like sound from behind the bars of the cage. Suddenly, smokes of different colors and sizes went in swirling motion down to Nala, who didn't know what was happening. At this time, the only though that occurred to her was – run! She decided in direction away from the cell, but by the time she got herself able of any movement, the smoke already cornered her. Nala didn't know what to do, so she did the only thing she could do – Scream.

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Nala quickly woke up, panting heavily, as if she just had a nightmare. Everything in the hospital room was dark, and the closest presence she felt was Kakashi outside. Reassured by this, she quietly sat up, trying to keep her movement to minimum so Kakashi wouldn't notice she is awake. Getting out of the bed, she glanced over at the clock – it read 4:00 am.

"_I guess old habits dye hard._" she though as she got herself dressed, looking carefully at her body. Her injuries were already healed thanks to the Kyuubi's chakra but she still couldn't believe that she had such a weak body these last three years. No wonder those ninja kept getting her; there was no way she could face them. Getting her mind of how weak her body was, she shifted her focus to the mirror in front of her.

"_Even if I did turn myself back to a baby three years ago, that doesn't mean that I have different blood, right? Let's find out if my unique bloodline limit still works._" Nala looked into the mirror and added a little chakra to her eyes. At that moment her ice-blue eyes turned red and revealed three comma-like marks. Nala smirked to herself as she changed the amount of chakra channeled in her eyes.

"_Sharingan – check._"

Her eyes changed again to show the color of milky white.

"_Byakugan – check._"

Nala loved her bloodline limit. It made everything much easier if she just took on any bloodline limit that others had and call it her own. It was like Sharingan, but instead of copying techniques, she copied bloodlines. At that moment, her head started hurting a little. She let her white eyes fade into the usual blue and went back to bed. Her chakra control obviously needed work. She put her hands behind her head, looked up at the dark ceiling and wondered what she should do. Maybe Nala could hide her identity as the fourth's cousin, train her body and once she was strong enough, she would tell them. There was always a possibility of telling the Hokage everything, but he might not believe her about her true identity. She quietly sighted and wondered why did she have to play around with everybody's mind like she did three years ago. I would have been much easier if they just remembered her.

After putting some though into it, Nala decided she would wait. After all, she loved when people underestimated her; it was much easier to deal with them then.

"**I agree, kid. After all, if the Hokage knew about our abilities, we would just probably end up in ANBU, and then I would never have the chance to get revenge on those pathetic ninja that have been hurting you for the last three years.**"

"_Getting overprotective, aren't we, Kyuubi?_" Nala forcibly laughed in her head. She was glad she could take her mind off of the sinking situation.

"**There is no such thing, I am a demon, I don't have emotions!**" The Nine Tailed Fox sounded offended.

"_Of course you have emotions!_" Nala started teasing the Kyuubi. "_Weren't emotions alone the reason you attacked Konoha?_" She finished seriously, only for her statement to be met with silence. If Nala didn't know any better, she would say that Kyuubi was sobbing somewhere in the corner of her cell. "_I'm sorry._" Nala quietly said, and then went back to sleep before Kyuubi could say anything.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Um, Kakashi-san, wake up." Nala said into certain shinobi's ear, trying hard to even reach his ear at her current size. Kakashi jumped up, shaking the orange book off of his face. He quickly looked around, then seeing that there was no danger, he looked down at Nala, who put on her most innocent-looking face.

"What happened?" Kakashi asked in even, emotionless voice, while he was mentally almost tearing his hair off from the embarrassment. He was an ANBU, falling asleep on the job didn't happen to people like him! Oh well, he did have a nice nap…

"Well, you fell asleep while reading that book…" Nala said innocently, trying her best to hide the fact that she used a sleeping charm on him, so he would get some rest. "… but don't worry, nobody saw you and I won't tell." She finished totally seriously while almost cracking up in her head.

"Oh… Thanks." Kakashi said uncertainly, not knowing what to think.

"Anyway," Nala moved down to business. She wanted to get out of the hospital and start training as fast as she could. "I am all healed up now, see?" Nala turned around to show that she could actually move.

"_Hmm, that was pretty fast, I would have expected at least another day… It must be because of the fox…_" He looked at her, not showing any emotions. "OK, you can go home now, just be careful." Kakashi told the little girl after a while.

"Hai!"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Nala headed back to the Uchiha compound, feeling like she just won a fight. Kakashi didn't suspected anything and she was finally free to start her training. She stopped for a minute, as the idea struck her. She turned around, no longer going to the Uchiha compound, and made her way to the Hokage monument. She hoped it would still be there, after all these years.

"**Don't get your hopes up, kid; people usually look through places like that.**"

"_What do you know?_" Nala got offended. Kyuubi was obviously questioning her abilities. "_Even if the bracelets aren't there, it wouldn't matter. I can always make new ones; it is pretty easy._"

"**Have it your way, I don't really care.**" With that the demon cut of and left Nala to her thoughts as she continued her way to the Hokage monument. The training weights that she hid on the head of Yondaime should still be there; with their invisibility technique, they weren't that easy to find. They would be perfect for her training.

Nala smirked as she imagined getting her hands on what she thought was one of her greatest inventions again. A weight bracelet looked like an ordinary stripe of soft silvery metal, but once put on, it could change its weight as the holder desired. There was a simple scale of one to nine that the holder could adjust with his thoughts. Once the scale was set, they would fade in to match the skin colour of the person, making it practically invisible. They reached the same effects as normal training weights, but were much smaller and more comfortable.

Nala finally reached the monument and started climbing the stairs. Why did she hide them so high up? It would take at least half an hour to get up the stairs and with her current size, she almost had to jump up to get from step to step.

"Oh well," she sighted, trying to be optimistic. "At least I'll get some exercise" And with this new motivation, she started jumping up the steps.

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_Author's Notes:_

**Me: Alright! First chapter is finished! Hope you liked it!**

**Kakashi: "…A mother like precision?..." Just kill me now… (goes sobbing into a corner because of embarrassment)**

**Me: It's because I can totally imagine you doing that, Kakashi. Well, (turns to the readers) you give me your opinion about that.**

**Yondaime: That's right, did you hear that? Hurry up and review or she will go mad!**

**Me: Wait…What the heck are you doing here? (turns to Yondaime and starts chasing him, then gives up after a while, seeing that he has an unfair advantage with Hirashin) But.. He.. Did.. Have.. A point, please review as much as you can! And thanks for reading this!**


	2. Show Time!

**Disclaimer: Mee **_**No**_** Ownee aanything!**

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Nala flew past the last tree of the forest. The land opened into a meadow and she could see the lake in the distance. She stoped sightseeing and focused her attention on the five dots near the lake. The five year old jumped again, hiding her completely in the setting sun. She hoped she would get there in time, before anyone ended up killed. She landed and quickly hid herself behind a rock.

"You guys are completely useless opponents!" The strange looking guy screamed again. He was wearing tight leather pants and a black shiny cloak. His brown hair contrasted with his insanely red eyes. He laughed again, giving off one of the most insane-sounding sounds Nala ever heard.

She looked at the ANBU squad the man was facing. Two of them were near fainting from chakra depletion; the third one had a bad bleeding wound on his left leg and didn't look like he was able to move. Overall there was only one man that could still stand but it didn't look like he was able to fight off that insane guy. Nala sighted and quietly zeroed her training weights-bracelets. She had to help them.

"Now you will all die!" The strange man started screaming again and moved forward.

"_Showtime!_" Nala though as she leapt into the air to place a kick on that bastard's head, while trying to come up with a plan. She couldn't show of in front of the ANBU especially if the squad had a Sharingan and a Byakugan users in it. On the other hand, if this man was able to exhaust ninjas of such qualities without even a scratch on him, he must have been insanely strong. "_We'll see what comes of it._" Though Nala as she safely landed on the ground while watching the guy fly off from her chakra charged kick.

He didn't stay out of it for long. After few bounces, he shifted to his left and landed on his feet. Nala could feel the eyes of the whole ANBU on her back, but she decided to ignore them for now, she would have to explain everything later.

"State your business here." she said in an even voice, but loud enough for the man to hear her. Instead of an answer, he laughed insanely again.

"Justice." he said, his voice not loosing any of his insanity. "And revenge." He finished as he started running towards Nala, now with a sword in hand. Seeing this, Nala took out her own blade she always kept sealed away in her sleeve and started running so she would get some distance between her and the injured ANBU. Their blades met, and for few seconds they tried to overpower each other, then both jumped back.

"But it's mostly revenge." The man said in a mocking voice, trying to hide his own panting.

"If you don't want to die, then leave this place." Nala responded in the coldest voice she could make.

"Make me!" the man screamed again and charged again.

"_I have to be careful, he is the type that doesn't have anything to loose._"

"**Then let me fight him. I will kill him faster than he can say Revenge.**" Nala remained quiet for a bit, looking as if she was actually thinking about the idea while easily blocking everyone of the man's attacks

"_Nah._" she said finally. "_I hate killing._"

"**And that is the biggest difference between us. You don't like having blood on your hands.**"

"_That isn't really a crime, you know? But I do feel little bored already; this guy has an amazing sword style, but it is lacking compared to mine. I should end this._" At that moment Nala shifted from a defensive stance to the attacking one. She channelled some chakra into her special sword and cut through the man sword like a butter knife through warm butter. The man wasted a second to stare in disbelief at the piece of stick that used to be his sword and then shifted to defensive stance to protect himself. Although it was just a second, Nala already attacked him with few precisely ranged needles and the man fell down, unconscious.

"**What a disgraceful way to fall in a battle, beaten by a five year old.**" Kyuubi laughed for itself, while Nala turned to the ANBU, one hand still focusing on hiding her sword.

"_Laugh all you want, but the hard part will start now – Explaining._" Nala said to the fox and then spoke out loud:

"Um, sorry I am late. It was kind a hard to get here." she said, forcibly laughing. She proceeded to examine the injured man's leg. Seeing as nobody tried to do anything about it, they obviously didn't have a medic in the squad. "Kakashi-san, does it hurt?" she asked a useless question just to cut through the tension of the moment.

It didn't work.

The ANBU squad still looked shocked as she reached for her emergency pill bag and took out two bright green pills, another invention of hers. She hid them in her fist, and then mentally broke the seals. She then placed the hand that held the pills before on Kakashi's leg. Five glowing green bandages shot from her palm and wrapped themselves around Kakashi's wound.

"Feels better now, doesn't it?" said Nala, trying to sound exactly the same as Kakashi few years ago. As Kakashi realized that she was mimicking him, he asked her in a low voice, trying to shake off his surprise from seeing her here.

"Nala, what are you doing here? You could have gotten yourself killed."

"Why, repaying you for the time you saved me." Nala said simply. "And besides, that guy wasn't that dangerous. He was slow and easily surprised."

"Heh, and they said trying to be friendly towards you was a waste of my time." Kakashi tried to stand up, but lost his balance and was caught by one of his team members, who, listening to their conversation slowly recovered.

"I wouldn't try that." Nala warned him seriously. "That is, if you don't want to loose your leg. I speeded up the healing process with those bandages, but it will still be about 18 hours until you will be able to move without the risk of permanently damaging it. As for you guys," she turned to the remaining ANBU. "It should take about 15 hours for a risk free movement. Why isn't there a medic in this squad anyway?" Ignoring her question, Kakashi, stuck by an idea asked:

"Nala, how fast can you run?" Totally unprepared for such question, Nala slightly shrugged.

"Fast enough to get to the village from here in 25 minutes, because that's what it took me to get here." She could see Kakashi grinning under his dog mask, as he sat down on the ground, keeping his left leg stretched.

Realizing his intentions, the ANBU that caught him before turned to Kakashi, and in a worried voice started:

"Kakashi-san, you can't mean that you seriously want to…" Kakashi quickly cut him off.

"Nala, I need you to deliver something to the Hokage and also get help, can you do that?" Nala shrugged again.

"Sure, sounds easy enough." she said, looking into the dark holes of Kakashi's mask. "What do you need me to deliver?" Kakashi slightly looked around and then took out a red scroll that was much bigger than her head.

"Go straight to the Hokage with this. Don't look in it, nor let anybody else than the Hokage. Don't talk to anybody, try to remain low profile. Once you get to the Hokage, give him the scroll and tell him about our position. If he doesn't believe you," Kakashi sighted, as he took something from behind his mask. "Show him this as the proof." He gave her his forehead protector.

"Understood." said Nala as she fastened the scroll on her back and then hid it with her cloak.

"Oh, and by the way. Is that guy dead?" Kakashi pointed at the insane man still laying on the ground.

"No, but he will be out of it for the next four days, thanks to the needles sticking out of his neck. That should give you enough time to… whatever you do with criminals." Nala adjusted her cloak again and made sure the scroll was in its place on her back. Then she started running towards the direction of Konoha.

"Can we trust her?" asked one of the ANBU.

"I didn't notice any abnormalities in her behaviour and the chakra signature matches. But it was pretty strange how quickly she took out that guy." said the Hyuuga hiding behind the hawk's mask.

"We can trust her. The last time we met, I said something to her that she repeated as she treated my wound." Kakashi stretched his hands. "Okay! We might be stuck here for a while, so let's set up camp."

"Hai captain!" They all said at once.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX****XXXXXXXXXX**

Meanwhile, Nala was already jumping through the trees of the forest.

"**You do realize that this little favour you are doing them will have much bigger consequences than a suspicious ANBU team.**"

"_I know, but what was I supposed to do? Kakashi looked so helpless and that puppy mask of his didn't help! And besides, he is a friend, I had to help him._"

"**But they will get suspicious, probably give us tests to find out how strong we are and once they see just what we can do, they will probably want to use us.**" Kyuubi stated worriedly.

"_Yep. In the better case scenario, we could end up with ANBU as one of them. In the worse, we could be locked away, but I don't think that Hokage would really do that._"

"**Perhaps.**" Kyuubi spaced out for a moment and watched with Nala as they were approaching the village. "**Incoming, from the left. Go faster!**" Nala followed Kyuubi's advice and picked up her pace, just in time to avoid the shuriken that just landed where she stood just a second ago. Between the trees, she could see a headband with Konoha's leaf on it. It must have been a guard that didn't realize she was on his side. She jumped again to avoid another set of shuriken.

"I so don't have time for this." Nala cursed as she formed her hands together to form a hand sign. "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" she quietly said so the guard wouldn't hear her. She formed one clone who, after avoiding another set of shurikens headed a different direction. Nala smirked when the attacks stopped and the guard obviously followed the clone. She jumped to the ground and started running on the road leading to Konoha's main gate. Just few minutes and she would be able to give the Hokage the scroll. She briefly looked around to take in her surroundings.

It was getting dark, and they would be expecting her for dinner back in the Uchiha compound. She would get in so much trouble if she missed the dinner, Fugaku would kill her.

"**Get your head off of food and concentrate, kid!**" Kyuubi yelled out. "**We are approaching the gate.**"

"_Right, thanks._" Nala, still running, took out Kakashi's forehead protector and fastened it to her forehead. It was like her passport to the village. She almost ran past the guards, but slowed enough to show them her forehead so they wouldn't follow her. Nala then placed the forehead protector back in her pocket and started jumping on the rooftops to the Hokage tower.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX****XXXXXXXXXX**

The leader of Konoha finally finished the paperwork. He sat at his desk, enjoying the peace and quiet. His relaxation was interrupted by a loud crash – that must have been the tea he sent for – and a dull boom – that must have been the ninja he sent for the tea. The sudden noise was followed by few shouts:

"Hey! Get back here!"

"Sorry! Kind a in a hurry here!"

The shouting continued closer to his door. Hokage sighted; so much for the peace and quiet today.

"No! You can't go there…" with that scream, his door opened, and to Sarutobi's surprise a five year old ran in, panting heavily. He looked up at the ANBU who were supposed to guard his door.

"We're sorry sir. She snuck past us." Sarutobi looked back at Nala and gave her a minute to calm her breath down. As soon as she did, she took out a forehead protector from her pocket and placed it on his desk, which cased the Hokage to give her more attention.

"_How the hell did she get her hands on one of those?_" He though, not understanding a thing. Without loosing his cool, he waited for Nala to tell what happened. She took of a large red scroll from her back and placed it next to the protector before nearly collapsing into one of the chairs in the office, still trying to catch her breath. Sarutobi's eyes widened even more as he realized what the scroll is. It contained a forbidden and powerful jutsu that he ordered Kakashi's squad to get.

"How did you get this? It's an S class material!" Sarutobi nearly screamed, not being able to hide his confusion. Nala, finally catching her breath started explaining:

"Kakashi-san gave it to me to deliver it. They have been attacked by some insane man and Kakashi ended up with an injured leg. The rest of the team suffered chakra depletion because of the fight." Nala paused for a second to let the Hokage take in the information and then continued "Kakashi-san said to give you the scroll and get help, since none of them can really move that much. He gave me his forehead protector to offer as a proof that I am saying the truth."

"Alright, I believe you. Blue Bat, take this scroll to Kamimaru. She'll know what to do." He signalled one of his ANBU, who immediately took the scroll and was gone in a poof of smoke. "Nala, can you lead us back to Kakashi and others?"

"Of course. I would get some medics with us to look over their injuries though. None of them will also be able to move without risk of permanently damaging their body for at least the next 18 hours. And last, the guy that attacked them is still there, only unconscious." Nala quickly finished giving the details.

"Understood, Boar, get few medic ninjas, and at least two other men from your team. Then please follow Miss Uchiha here to what ever spot Kakashi's team is."

"Yes sir."

"**This is going rather well, but they will still question us after we get back with Kakashi.**"

"_When we get back, I will be probably yelled at by Fugaku because of missing dinner._" She though as her stomach quietly grumbled. "_And I really do miss it._"

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Nala stood still in the corner of the room, studying the Hokage's face as he was listening to Kakashi who was trying to explain everything. Out of all places, this was the least spot she would like to be.

"**This is all your fault, if you didn't fell that man's chakra getting so strange,**" Kyuubi led her eyes at Kakashi, "**then we wouldn't be stuck here.**"

"_If I didn't fell that man's chakra all out of place, then he would be dead. By the way, did you figure out the reason why that man was so strong? Not that it would matter._"

"**It's not really that hard to figure out.**" Kyuubi sighted at her container's stupidity. "**He had an advantage over them because of his sword. He must have been trained in some Samurai clan from his early age. Ninja, even those of Kakashi's level have no chance against people like that. He also caught them after a long run with that scroll so they must have been pretty tired when he attacked.**"

"_I guess so. Add in the 25 minutes it took me to arrive and it is actually logical that they got beat like that._" Nala looked at Kakashi again. He was standing on one leg while trying to balance his weight so he wouldn't put any strain on his injured weight. It was already morning when they got into Hokage's office, since Kakashi had to stop by the hospital to get his leg checked. The rest of the team went home as Kakashi took it upon himself to inform the Hokage and Nala simply didn't wanted to go home, since a screaming head of the Uchiha clan was the last thing she needed right now.

Nala sighted, trying to overlook her own exhaustion and once more started listening to the long discussion. It felt like she was standing there for hours.

"Nala, what do you got to say for yourself?" the sudden words directed to her left Nala speechless. Seeing this, Hokage continued: "Where did you learned how to fight like that? And what were you even doing there?" Nala took a deep breath and a step forward.

"I was there because I felt Kakashi-san's chakra going out of control and I wanted to help him, so I could repay my debt to him, since he saved me two years ago." Nala's even voice echoed in the room as the two men were breathless to hear her explanations.

"**This isn't good, they will lock us up!**" Kyuubi worriedly hissed in Nala's mind. Pushing that thought away, Nala continued explaining:

"I was able to defeat that man because I trained for it. It is as simple as that. I have been training non-stop for the last two years so when someone attacked me, I would be able to protect myself or others." Nala finished, looking straight into Hokage's face to give the message that she didn't want to answer anymore question.

"Alright. Thank you, you are dismissed." The Hokage said, breaking their eye connection. Nala slightly bowed and then quickly exited the room. Sarutobi then turned to Kakashi.

"Do you think it is possible?"

"It should be, I mean, I became a chunnin at the age of six and she is five."

"Very well. I will send her to academy few years earlier."

"I am sorry sir, but from the ability she presented when fighting, she could be skilled enough to be a jounin. The academy would waste her potential."

"Where are you going with this?" Sarutobi asked, not liking what ever it was that Kakashi was implying. He couldn't let a five year old get into anything dangerous, especially this one. On the other hand, Kakashi was right about the academy. If she was able to defeat in les then five minutes someone that an entire team of his best man could not, it would be just a waste of time.

"I want to know how strong she really is." Kakashi said with a hint of interest in his voice. "Let me give her some tests, we can decide what to do with her after that."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_Author's Notes:_

**Me: Jej! Finally finished with this one too!**

**Kakashi: (Looking like his world was destroyed) First, you make me act like a mother, and now you get me hurt? WHY, WOMAN, WHY?**

**Me: (pats Kakashi on the head) Now, now, you will get your cool moments… (Fingers crossed behind her back)**

**Kakashi: You better…**

**Me: I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if there is anything I should improve, just let me know through reviews. **

**Also, I would like to know where you think I should continue. I can either: **

**skip to Nala's tenth year and the whole letter thing, or**

**continue from here and let her take Kakashi's tests, or**

**skip to Uchiha massacre **

**It's your call so please let me know!**


	3. Do You Accept or Not?

**Disclaimer: If I owned this (Naruto and Harry Potter), then it wouldn't be a fiction now, would it? **

**Also give a big cheer for my beta tester, for editing this chapter (and who recently got me into depression because he writes so much better than me.)**

**Chapter 3**

It was a great day, a cool breeze playing across the leaves from the north, and not a cloud in the sky much to a young Shikamaru's chagrin, when the owl arrived. The bird was holding something and indignantly refused to go away even after few kunais were whisked its way.

Giving up on getting an afternoon nap Nala grudgingly awoke, finally taking the letter from the bird's beak before laying it next to her bed. She would read it later; she did have an angry team of jounin waiting for her after all. Quickly adjusting her armor for the last time, she jumped through the window and then from the nearest tall object.

Jumping over the rooftops of the eerily empty Uchiha compound, she went in the direction of the Hokage tower. If she wasn't mistaken, she had a mission to do. It was one of those days that she lived for – nice weather, a good team and an interesting mission, knowing that when she returned, there would be at least one familiar face from her family to welcome her home. Nala was one of the five survivors of the Uchiha massacre that happened two years ago. She despised that day with a loathing that made her hatred for her own birthday pale in comparison.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (flashback) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_Nala checked the ground again. It really was blood. She scanned the area, making out the cold bodies in the darkness. What the heck was going on here? She heard a quiet cry from one of the houses and hurried inside, hoping tat she wasn't too late. The furniture was all messed up and there were trails of blood everywhere, only to be forgotten as she heard another cry and proceeded to a bundle of unmoving fabric. She slowly stripped it away to find a pale baby, tears soaking its face._

_"_A Survivor!_" Nala was overjoyed. Whoever did this didn't check if they killed everybody. As gently as she could, she knocked the baby unconscious so it wouldn't make any noise before placing it in her backpack. She continued with her search for survivors, tears almost blinding her vision._

_She felt something move behind her, but when she turned, there was nothing there. She continued her way, slightly panicking. Even with all her skills and experience, she was not trained for this. Even with everything she knew, she wouldn't be able to win against someone powerful enough to take out a whole clan of combat geniuses. Whoever did this was out of her reach._

_"E... Everyone! Everyone's dead! Why, Itachi, why!!" the sudden cry made her turn around and shift her attention to an open door not so far from her. With few quick jumps she appeared in front of the door and with terror she realized that it was leading to their family house. "Aunty, Uncle, Shisui, everyone! You killed them all! You killed everyone in our clan!" she heard Sasuke's voice again and stepped inside._

"_**Easy now, kid, don't do anything stupid.**__" Kyuubi held Nala's body back, making her unable to move. She watched Itachi, who realizing she was there lost any interest in Sasuke and looked at her, three tomoe spinning in his blood red eyes. _

"Itachi did this? But why?_" Nala felt lost. This couldn't be true! He was one of the few that actually cared about her and Sasuke, so why was he doing this? She felt like she was having a dream, and so far, it was a nightmare._

"_**Protect the living…**__" Kyuubi said simply, not believing that she became the voice of reason within Nala. Kyuubi then finally released Nala from her control, it was like letting a caged mother cub that just had it's babies killed loose. This would be interesting._

_Nala didn't care anymore. Following Kyuubi's advice, she let her eyes fade to red just like Itachi's, canceling his ability to hypnotize her. Pure anger overwhelmed her. She usually disliked killing, but now, seeing Itachi's blood on her blade would bring her the greatest of pleasure. Nala soared forwards, leading her sword to Itachi's heart. He stood motionless and then blocked her attack at the last second. They exchanged blows for few minutes, but she could feel that Itachi was holding back. Not knowing what to do, she retrieved herself. The anger was gone, it was replaced with hopelessness. She couldn't go all out because of the baby on her back, but not going all out could mean her death._

"_Why did you do this?" She asked, careful to not let her Sharingan fade, as she felt that he was clearly trying to get into her mind, just like he did to Sasuke who lay unconcious on the floor between them in a pool of his own vomit. Ignoring her question, he said in a quiet, almost sneaky-sounding voice:_

"_I will leave you and Sasuke alive. You have talent, unlocking those eyes, but you lack strength, it's almost pathetic." His face remained emotionless as his eyes slowly morphed into blades. Darkness approached her as she was being overpowered by him. "Live and when you are strong enough to face me, come and find me…" were the last words she heard._

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Nala shook her head to chase the bad memories away. There was no point reflecting on the past. She finally arrived in front of the Hokage tower only to find that her team wasn't there. She blinked in confusion, she did say to Kakashi that the meeting was two hours earlier so when he showed up late as usual, they didn't have to wait for him, so where was he? Where was everybody else for that matter? Other then Kakashi, none of the remaining people in the five-man cell was ever late.

She turned around, feeling an approaching figure behind her. A young chuunin walked up before reporting, shaking a little from fear as he looked at the person before him. The Hokage didn't mention the name, and judging from her attire, she was fairly powerful. The Hokage also acted a little strangely when ordering him to get the person standing in front of the tower, which triggered most of his worries.

"The Hokage wants to see you." he blurted, trying to get rid of the squeak in his voice. Nala frowned at him. Why the heck was he so scared?

"Understood." she said emotionlessly, not even wanting to know what happened that the chuunin was so freaked out. She decided to go through the window of Hokage's office; going through the door would take too much time and no self respecting ninja used doors anyways. She stoped jumping as the window of Hokage's office came into view – there was another man in it. From her given distance, she investigated him. He was tall and if the wrinkles on his brow and the flowing white beard were any indicator, he was at least as old as the Hokage and even from her vantage point, the way he held himself with an air of wisdom pointed out the fact even more. There was a strange fog of deformed chakra around him thou, something that Nala never saw before.

"**He looks interesting.**" Kyuubi said without any emotion in its voice. "**Feels like I've seen him before, maybe in some of your locked memories.**"

"_You go through my memories?!_"

"**Only those that are locked out from your view. Let me go through them, I'll tell you if I find something interesting.**"

"_Now you are helping me?_" Nala tried to sound shocked. "_What happened to you?_"

"**I'm not really helping you. I go through your memories without your permission, and I will be simply sharing my findings with you, pathetic human child.**"

"_Whatever._" Nala finished the conversation and proceeded to go through the window. "You called for me, Hokage-sama?" She said in an even voice, totally ignoring the strange man to her left.

"Ah yes, Nala, meet Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts – it's like a small Konoha." Hokage said, looking carefully into the holes of her mask, trying hard to pick up any emotion.

"_Hogwarts… Hogwarts… Where have I heard this before?_" The realization struck her. "You are the one who send that annoying bird that kunais can't deter… Thanks to it, I have to redecorate my whole room. And what was with that letter, anyway? I haven't read it jet." She looked at the two men, both sweat-dropping as they thought of the owl's valiant… and pointless struggle.

"Nala, you have been chosen to enroll in his school, it…"

"I'm not going." Nala said, not even bothering to sound regretful. Both Hokage and Dumbledore were shocked by her response. Albus was the first one to recover, speaking in horribly accented Japanese:

"And why is that, if I may ask? You had an amazing luck that you were chosen out of all the people in Konoha, you will receive training like any other in Hogwarts, it will be mightily beneficial for you."

"**I think I found it, kid.**" Kyuubi interfered. "**Are you sure you don't remember him? He employed you once, it was a disaster.**"

"_What happened? I don't – can't remember anything about him._" Nala became quite interested. If a demon said that something was a disaster, she had full right to be worried.

"**I'm not going to help you that much, find out on your own.**" Kyuubi ended the discussion, suddenly becoming very uninterested in this matter. Shifting her attention back to the two old men who were obviously waiting for her to respond, she said in an emotionless, Uchiha-like voice:

"There are many reasons why I am not going to go. First, judging from the fact that it is a school, I would be away for at least a year, which means that I would be marked down as a missing ninja as well as missing a years worth of pay…"

"It would be marked down as an unranked mission, your job would be to collect information on different _skills_ that you learned, and you would also protect the student body from any danger." The Hokage gently cut her off, seeing where she was going with it. Almost undistracted by this, Nala continued, her voice still devoid of emotion.

"Even if it could be a mission, and I won't get ranked as a missing S-class criminal, who will take care of my family? I have a two year old to raise. And even though they do not know, I am the major money source..."

"Shuichi is a chunnin; I think he can handle Sasuke and Aki-chan while you are gone, and besides they should get used to you being away for longer periods of time." After the second time Hokage interrupted her, Nala slowly realized that it was useless. She could fight and scream all she wanted, but the result would be the same. Not letting any hint of defeat show, she asked in a steady voice:

"What about my team?"

"One of your teammates will be chosen as a substitute leader and he will carry out your duties while you are gone." A smirk appeared on Hokage's face. He knew he was breaking her.

"And how about the academy? I am enrolling in it on your wish, despite my real rank, so I could 'interact with my peers', remember? I still haven't graduated yet."

"I will give you a recommendation to take the exam early." Hokage's smirk widened. "Actually, I think there are going to be exams in about a week, you will take it with them. So, do you accept this mission or not?"

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**Me: Hmm… A cliff hanger, even though it's not a good one. **

**Dumbledore: Exactly why am I ignored throughout the whole discussion? It's as if I'm not even there…twiddles beard absentmindedly in his fingers **

**Me: I'm sorry, Dumbledore-san, did you said something? **

**Dumbledore: I know where you are going with this and I will have you know that I will never react like Maito Gai.**

**Please review as much as you can, because more reviews she gets, the more pumped up she is for writing a new chapter, and more chapters means that I will have more lines in this fic!**

**Ian (humble beta tester): Which means more lines I need to read XD (mutters under his breath)  
**


	4. Absent Minded

**Disclaimer: Check my name and get the answer yourself, will 'ya?**

Chapter 4

Nala slowly paced in the early morning quiet of the village, an equally slow rising sun supplying her with the light needed to read the letter time and again. It was Monday, a day for learning and socializing, but she didn't care to show at the academy. She would be graduating in a week anyway, so attending would really b a waste of time. Showing a tiny smirk she realized the irony of her tangent in thought, her whole time at the academy was a waste of time seeing that she knew all the skills needed to graduate. Letting the quick smirk fade as quickly as it had come, she returned to once again rereading her letter.

_Don't decide now, I'll let you have two days so you can think it over._

The words that she heard yesterday echoed in her mind. Two days to decide on her whole future wasn't even near enough for the trained killer. Walking past a ramen stand she stoped dead in her tracks. Even though it was still an early morning, she was hungry because she practically missed out on dinner last night, and ramen was a quick and inexpensive way to fill her stomach. She turned around and walked in.

"Oi! Nala, I haven't seen you for a while. How have you been?" The old man treated her. Faking a smile, Nala looked into his eyes flashing an unnoticeable Sharingan to stop the impending flow of questions. After all the Sharingan had its advantages outside of battle, like implanting thoughts in people's minds. It was a quick way to get rid of any unwanted questions and enjoy her meal in peace.

"I have felt better before, but nothing significant these past few days. One bowl of Miso Ramen, please!" She sat down, not wanting to thing about her situation, yet the thoughts kept coming back to her.

_In the ninja world, those who don't abide by the rules are trash. But those abandon their friends are even lower than trash. _Kakashi once said that to her, during her second mission with his team. Leaving Konoha would feel like abandoning her friends in need and from years of missions she knew that there would always be something that required her help.

_The only real purpose of power is to protect. Get stronger so you can protect, not destroy._ Shuichi, one of the survivors told her after the massacre. _The power born for this purpose is the purest and strongest one._ Nala wasn't certain whether Hogwarts would give her this power or not. Hogwarts might be the way to become stronger than Itachi so she could make him pay for all the pain he made his family went through.

"_I guess that there is nothing wrong if I leave them for a couple of months since they're not in any danger or it looks like that they will be in the nearest future, seeing that Hokage would look after them while I'm be gone._" She thought as the hot bowl of noodles was set before her, its rich odor reaching her sensitive nose.

"Hey, Nala! Busted!" Nala heard a familiar voice behind her, but instead of the usual feeling of trepidation running down her spine she ignored the obnoxious voice. Opting that the owner of the voice wasn't even worth a passing glance, she took out a pair of chopsticks, and after splitting them perfectly down the middle muttered 'Itedakimasu' before digging into her steaming hot ramen.

Iruka, still standing behind her, got a little bit confused. Nala was her star student along with Sasuke, but unlike Sasuke, she did few pranks from time to time, probably just for the heck of it. She liked sneaking out of the classroom and was amazingly good at it, he would never realize that she was gone. If he ever caught her out of the classroom, she usually started running and laughing until he caught her and dragged her back to the classroom. But today, she didn't even glanced his way, let alone respond to him, was something wrong? Baffled, he came closer and when she still didn't run off, he decided get a seat next to her, slightly concerned about her health.

"Oh, Good Morning, Iruka-sansei." she mumbled in a low voice verging on depression, a trait in it which was very unlike her. "Would you like some ramen? It's my treat." she continued with an air of indifference. From Iruka's point of view, she had the air of the undead - there, but not really aware of her surroundings. A condition due to her currently one track mind that refused to ponder anything but her current dilemma. Needless to say, Iruka didn't understand this sudden change in behaviors but wrote it off as the enigma that is the female race, after all he had enough experience with them to understand that he didn't understand anything about them. .

"Nala, lets go back to class again, ne? I'm going to leave you off with a warning this time, I'm feeling charitable so if you come with me now, there'll be no detention." Iruka joked in an almost hopping voice.

"I'm sorry, Iruka-sensei, but I have a lot to think about, ja ne." With a puff a smoke, she left behind some money and a very confused Iruka.

Materializing on Yondaime's head at the Hokage monument -her favourite place to think- she sat down to glance at the village before her. Nala couldn't think of leaving this place, the thought was too absurd to her. She lived here for her whole life and was prepared to give her life for the village any time, so why should she leave?

"**I will tell you this only once, kid.**" Kyuubi got her attention. "**In that world, there is a piece of you that you need to become whole. ****It will also help you realize a montage of thoughts that your memory has forsaken.**"

"_Now even you are turning against me?_" Nala chased away the thought of tears. She couldn't cry, she was a ninja, she don't have emotions. Letting a sigh escape her soft lips she succumbed to the feeling of the gentle wind playing with her hair.

"**Your right, the thousands year old tyrant demon and lord of the biju is turning on you, poor, poor little girl. Just take my advice, I have my reasons and if _I'm_ being helpful it's best you listen.**"

"_Tell me what happened?_" Nala tried to convince Kyuubi again even though she knew it was hopeless. Once a demon made up its mind, nothing could change it. Kyuubi stood quiet for few seconds, and then responded, a hint of playfulness in its voice.

"**You want to find out? Accept the mission.**"

"_I feel like this is one of Kakashi's tests._" Nala got lost in the past for few seconds. She remembered how he sent different ninjas after her to test her ninjutsu, taijustu and genjutsu abilities. He also made her take the imitations of chuunin and gennin exams to find out where she stood in regards to intelligence. "_He always made me make difficult decisions just to test if I was worthy of the rank. This feels like one of the decisions he would make me think about._"

"**If it really was a test that Kakashi would be putting you through, what would you do?**"

Nala thought about this for a second, closing her eyes. She became oblivious to everything around her, going through all the possibilities, as if it really was only a test. There was new spirit in her eyes as she opened them and said out loud:

"Accept the mission." Standing up again, she decided to take the stairs down. She didn't have her mask on, so if anyone happened to see her running down the Hokage monument, she could get in quite a lot of trouble. It would also help her clear her head a little more as she decided what to do.

Keeping the fact that she wasn't delighted by the idea of going in mind, she decided she would not go without "special" privileges.

"**What kind of things are you planning on demanding from them?**" Kyuubi asked, interested in what ludicrous things her container would demand.

"_Sorry Kyuubi, but I'm not going overboard this time._" Nala jeered with a smirk. "_They did say that I will also be responsible for protecting the student body, right?_" When Kyuubi sighed in confirmation, Nala continued with her theory. "_That means that I will have to be in top shape, so I thought about demanding a room where I could train and full access to the school grounds as there are bound to be forbidden places. Then few more minor conditions , but without them, I'm not going._"

"**Your plan is sick, sneaky, evil,… I'm so proud.**" Kyuubi finally felt some relation to Nala, because if she was her place, Kyuubi would do exactly the same. They continued down the stairs in a comfortable silence, Nala fully occupied with thinking about new benefits for her.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Nala mentally sighed. The discussion had gone on long enough and she wondered if it really was a good idea to accept this mission, even if they did give into all her pathetic demands. She wondered why did Dumbledore wanted her in Hogwarts so much, it was illogical to waste so much time on one student, even if she was from a hidden village unlike the others.

They agreed that she would leave in about two weeks to pick out her school supplies and then stay a week in London, where she would work on her language skills. She would also have enough time to look around the city to familiarize herself with their customs.

"The connection point, as we wizards call it, is located far beyond Suna, but there is something similar to a train that will get you there in less than two days. There will be a man waiting for you there, he should be easily noticeable. He will be your guide through our world. Understood?" Dumbledore finally finished giving directions after what seemed like hours for Nala. She didn't regret loosing her precious time listening to the old man for she has learned a lot of valuable information. She made a slight nod that confirmed her understanding of the directions.

"How will I communicate with the man? Does he know Japanese?" Nala asked, her voice devoid of emotion as usual.

"No, I couldn't find anyone Japanese speaking that would be willing to show a ten year old around for a whole week. I also believe that speaking English will benefit you. Here, let me give you some books." Taking out a seemingly harmless stick, Dumbledore muttered few words under his breath. At that moment, a pile of at least ten books appeared. Nala was caught off-guard, but suppressed her need to jump away and hide. She was grateful for the mask on her face that hid her moment of weakness under the seemingly mourning face of a fox. She swiftly looked at the books before sealing them away in a scroll. "There are some English-Japanese books in there, a dictionary, a travel guide about London, books talking about Hogwarts and a copy of today's newspaper. Make sure you read through them all."

"Understood. Now if you excuse me, as I mentioned before, I have a two year old to raise. I promised Aki-chan that I will take him to the playground, and…" Nala shrugged. "I guess I have to think about how to tell my family about all this."

"Ah, yes, I believe that my portkey will activate any time soon too." They bid their farewells. Nala blurred out of vision like the good little ninja she was, while Dumbledore carefully touched the dumplings before him. Before the waitress of the restaurant could do anything to stop them, they were both gone, much to her chagrin. They didn't order as much as a certain Akamichi, but money was still money.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

With a pair of phoenix eyes watching him, Dumbledore appeared in his office. He sat down at his desk, allowing himself a moment of self pity.

"_You do know that there is a possibility of your death, right?"_

_"That possibility appears in every mission, I am well informed sir."_

_"Very well, you know what to do, stop at nothing to fulfil my orders."_

_"Yes, sir."_

Letting a sigh escape his mouth, he chased away the bad memories. She did fulfil his orders and suffered so much because of it. Every time he looked at Nala, he wanted to apologize and beg forgiveness from her, but he knew he couldn't. It was difficult to talk to her, her lost memory making matters even worst for him. He was unsure how to act in front of her, because she could get her memory back any second.

It was partly because of that fact that he decided to bring her to Hogwarts at any cost. Dumbledore thought that if he filled her mind with wonderful experiences at the school, her grudge and hate against him would be smaller once she got her memory back.

Allowing himself another groan, he started the needed paperwork. Dumbledore partly hated himself for feeling so bad about Nala. He, one of the greatest wizards that ever lived, felt guilty for ruining one girl's life.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

While supervising Aki on the playground, Nala unsealed one of the largest books, the dictionary. Activating her Sharingan, she looked at the writing on the cover carefully. At first it looked like a bunch of lines some restless kid put together, but then they slowly begun to make sense. She unsealed another book for support, the Japanese-English workbook. One book in every hand, she began scanning through them with Sharingan for a picture perfect memory.

It didn't take long for her to learn the Alphabet, seeing that it had much less characters than Japanese. She didn't encountered any problems in any other rules except for past tense but decided that she will think about it later. Soon she was able to read simple sentences without looking in the dictionary for support.

"**This is taking too long.**" Kyuubi groaned with boredom. Thanks to Nala's locked memories, Kyuubi already knew English and from what she compared, it didn't take Nala this long to learn the new language last time. "**It would be so much easier if you just remembered the language so I wouldn't have to learn it with you all over again.**" Nala got little snappy with Kyuubi. She was learning a new language, something that too years to complete and didn't need a bored demon complaining inside of her head.

"_Fine, you teach me. We'll see if it takes any longer._"

"**Point taken.**"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

It was late night when Nala finished with all the books. She yawned and looked out of the window. She didn't pay any attention to the empty street, instead she shifted her gaze to the stars and the Hokage monument yonder.

Tomorrow, she would take the exams at the academy, finally graduating and she then would have to tell her family that she was leaving. She expected that to be the hardest point of the day, seeing that the graduation exams would probably be something primitive like _Henge_. Fixing her gaze on one of the stars, she wondered if they will understand.

"**Get some sleep, kid, it will be a long day tomorrow.**" Obeying Kyuubi's orders, Nala stepped away from the window and quietly slipped in her bed, clothing her eyes immediately. Without doubt, tomorrow will be one of the harder days of her life.

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_Author's Notes: _

**Me: …… **

**Kakashi: Hmm, no notes today? **

**Me: No, can't think of anything funny. **

**Sasuke: As if they ever were funny… (doges two kunais and a pillow thrown his way) **

**Me: GET OUT OF HERE AND LEAVE ME TO MY DEPRESED SELF!! **

**Sasuke: (Dodges another pillow while listening to Rock Lee anxiously scream "Pillow Fight!") Please review so she gets out of her 'so-called' depression and stops throwing pillows at me. Why is she even throwing pillows anyway?**

**Ian: Because I used all her other kunais to kill the emos...I have a daily quota and 582 is hard to fill each day :P**

**Kakashi: He scares me...**

**Sasuke: And I thought I had problems...**


	5. Mood Swings

**Disclaimer: I tried to look on Ebay for the rights to Naruto and Harry Potter, but didn't get a good deal**...

Chapter 5

Ignoring the constant jolts of the train that caused her red-tinted vision to bounce up and down the page, Nala shuffled into a more comfortable position from that of her head propped against the window as she quickly scanned a dictionary inches away to lying on her back, elbows propped with the book still inches from her face. She decided to take a moment to reflect, with an upcoming meeting with a English speaking man in about six hours to look forward to Nala decided she'd be damned if she wasn't prepared for something as simple as speaking a new language. Unfortunately for Nala, her inquisitive mind would not rest as she took a moment to ignore the monotonous passages of the dictionary for more glamorous thoughts of the splendid sights in London that her Travel Guide promised.

She sighed as the train slowed to a stop, it was obvious she arrived at her destination so she quickly packed her things and glanced at her watch, a gift from Dumbledore, which read 8'o clock. Another sigh escaped her lips as she took a covert glance at her surroundings and noticed that people were openly staring at her, probably her mask and armor she deduced. While traveling through ninja territory, Nala didn't want anyone to see her face, a death wish in and of itself so she kept her mask on ignoring the onlookers.

"**Hide somewhere and change, you idiot. We are outside of ninja countries, people here have probably never seen a ten year old with armor and a sword.**" Kyuubi chided .

"_It's not my fault, but you know we have made a name for ourselves, and if anybody would see me, the Golden Leaf of Konoha, we'd have an ASS load of ASSassination attempts on our necks._"

"**Maybe, but here, it is more likely they ask you, the poor little girl, if you got lost.**" Kyuubi responded in amused voice as Nala made the 30ft jump to the roof of the station look like a cake walk. Enjoying the height she was provided, Nala quickly looked around to find a lack of any noticeable form of civilization in view. A few farm houses and barns littered the rolling green landscape from place to place, but that was all her vantage point provided. Walking to the middle of the flat roof, she took out one of the scrolls she had sealed her clothes in. Biting her thumb before letting a few drops of blood fall on the scroll a plain white T-shirt unsealed along with a pair of long jeans and close-toed civilian shoes.

Watching Nala, Kyuubi became increasingly amused by her antics as the minutes passed by, the great demon she was, it couldn't understand why ninjas did pathetic things like wasting their own blood on sealing scrolls; it made little sense to her unless they wanted to chop an infected thumb off, a waste of time in her opinion. With practiced speed Nala changed into her new civilian attire, using the long sleeves of the shirt and jeans to the fullest she attached few kunai to her wrists and heels. Constant vigilance she thought to herself, with feeling that she will regret this later, she took off her fox mask to replace it with her newly acquired forehead protector. The thought of the graduation exams making her laugh as she remembered one of the most anti-climactic days of her life.

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_ Walking into the classroom full of twelve year olds, Nala silently cursed her luck. Every one of the barely potty trained nose-picking dweebs stared at her like some animal in a zoo as they sent whispers around the room. Her lack of caring keeping her head free to mentally slaughter them, but as Nala continued to the desk farthest in the back she subconsciously hoped she would get out of the view. _

_ "Who is she? I've never seen her in class before." "Maybe she is lost, should we ask her?" Her sensitive ears picked up many others, but as a ninja she knew not to care about what other people thought. She approached the desk and plopping her head on it, she completely disconnected from her surroundings. _

_ The room remained in same socially awkward position for couple of minutes, until Iruka walked in. _

_ "The test will consist of a simple jutsu you will be asked to perform. Based on your performance you will either graduate or not." Iruka started his speech. "The testing jutsu will be the clone technique." _

_"_Clone technique?_" Nala thought, still processing the words. "_They mean to tell me that I wasted three years of my life that aren't coming back for a reunion anytime soon in the academy, and was forced to drop almost all my ANBU duties just to show them four clones at the end? I haven't felt this stupid for some time now._"_

_ "_**Relax kid, just get through it and then forget all about it. I heard they call the names in alphabetical order from this guy I ate few years back, we will get out of here quickly.**_" _

_ "_I don't see how the name Uchiha will get me out of here quickly, it's on the end of the alphabet, and who the hell would let their last words be about the academy system?_" _

_ "_**Your real name is Akamaki, and you should get used to it, because where you are going, nobody will call you Uchiha. And about that person I ate, it was something about always being first… He said he was the first to graduate because of his name, then bunch of other things, and then he said he will be the first to die; quite poetic actually. Oh, and by the way, he tasted horrible.**_" _

_ "Akamaki Uchiha Nala." Iruka suddenly called out, cutting through Nala's train of thought and setting the room in slight surprise. She lazily stood before walking the distance between her desk and the door of the testing room at a relaxed pace. Throughout the room random clips of conversation could be overheard about her Uchiha heritage, much to Akamaki's disdain. The attention made her stand out, a potentially deadly situation for any ninja. _

_ "Alright, swipe us of our feet." The white haired instructor remarked with a poorly hidden hint of mockery to his voice; Nala could sense that he didn't like her at all. Bringing her hands together to a familiar hand sign, she muttered few words under her breath. At once, ten solid clones appeared. Allowing herself a smile, Nala looked at the instructors who were staring at the clones, their jaws down. _

_ "So, did I pass?" _

_ "Here." Getting out of the self inducted shock, one of the instructors passed her the forehead protector. "Congratulations, you graduate." _

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

She smiled at the thought of the exams again. Although it pissed her off that she was forced to go through the academy, she didn't hold a grudge against anyone. Nala believed that it was too unhealthy to hold anything against anyone as it would interfere with her duties.

Sliding off the roof, Nala got aboard the newly arrived train, cursing the civilian attire. Even if it was made to match ninja clothes in flexibility she could barely stretch her foot above her head. It was extremely difficult to jump or duck, yet she needed all the flexibility she could get out of it. Letting out a sigh, something that was becoming a trademark action for her, as the train started moving she said to no one in particular:

"I'm not going to survive this year, if I am to wear this." She quickly made a pact with herself that she will try to get all her clothes remade to be more flexible. "_Especially with those black robes I'm going to beg the tailor if I have to. Those things look like that they will rip if you bend._" Nala started rereading the travel guide out of train induced boredom, a trivial reprieve at best since she already memorized the entire thing thanks to her Sharingan.

"**How about you get some sleep, kid, I will keep guard. You will be useless if you are tired.**"

"_Acting by the ninja rules, eh?_" Nala responded. "_Remember where that landed Kakashi?_"

"**GO. TO. SLEEP!**" Kyuubi commanded, killer intent dominating it's vocals. Not wanting to think about what made the Kyuubi act so harshly and the punishment for disobeying Nala hastened to close her eyes. It really was one of the ninja rules after all, the one Shikamaru made most use of if not severely abused, – sleep when you can.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The pollution in the air was messing with her senses and royally screwing her nose over so she looked out the train window hoping to quickly find the man Dumbledore was talking about and get out of town. Searching the crowd, she felt hopelessness clawing at the edges of her being; there were too many people. Suddenly, a man with a long fabric rolled together on his head caught her attention. He was holding a large black card with the leaf symbol on it and seemed to be searching the crowd just like her.

Reminding herself that she was in civilian territory, she took her bag, went through the door and then straight up to the man, using her small body as an advantage at the overcrowded station.

"Ah, g-good, you are not w-wearing that s-silly outfit D-Dumbledore t-told me about." The man stuttered, once recognizing the symbol on her forehead protector.

"I learned my lesson on one of the stops when everyone was staring at the kid with a mask." Nala said in English, letting her face give nothing to the stranger.

"I-I'm p-professor Q-Quirrell, I teach D-Defense against d-dark m-magic, I h-hope y-you will e-enjoy my c-class, Ms. A-Akamaki." He barely got out of him, his nervousness showing. Nala examined him carefully, not knowing what to thing about the man. Right now he stuck her as a complete idiot that was scared of his own shadow, but he might turn into a major threat later, after all the smallest jutsu seemed to do the largest damage.

"**I don't like him, there is some other, rather powerful chakra merged with his.**" Kyuubi stated, not hiding the dislike from its voice in the least.

"_I know, I can feel it too, and what is even stranger, I think I felt this vile chakra before._"

"S-Shall we g-get a d-drink before we h-head to D-Diagon Ally?" he said after sufficiently calming down. "W-we could t-talk a l-little b-before we g-get your books." Nala gave a slight nod, fixing her gaze on the man as they walked through the crowd. He just too suspicious to her and her senses were on red alert.

He led her out of the train station and then through many streets, each differing in size and purpose. They finally ended up in a small, overcrowded bar. Nala looked around; the place was dark and looked like it could use some serious cleaning. Both of them sat down at the only available table, Quirrell getting himself his "usual." The patrons of bar didn't pay much attention to them as they engaged in discussion, both asking each other questions.

"Ah, Hagrid, the usual?" The words didn't caught her attention as much as the man they were directed to. He was a tall man, even taller than Dumbledore, with a thick brown beard and eyebrows that could rival Rock Lee's. He had with him a small boy that looked scared to death from Nala's point of view and was now scanning through the bar with a wary eye. She noticed a small, lightning-like scar on his forehead, which made her wonder in what kind of fight did he get himself into.

"No, on business for Hogwarts today, I'm showin' Harry Potter around." The room fell silent for a second as he said that. Everybody looked at the boy, who, getting all the attention looked around, perplexed. Moments later, everybody almost jumped at him, trying to shake his hand and ask him questions.

"**Make him your ally, kid, it will be beneficial.**" Kyuubi said as they both watched the crowd totally engulfing the boy. The aforementioned Harry Potter slowly picked his way through all the people before appearing before their table. Nala used the shade of the room to her advantage to completely hide her face. She didn't know why, but she didn't want Harry to notice her.

"H-Harry P-Potter," the professor sitting on her left got out of himself as the room began to calm again. "I-It is an a-absolute h-honor to meet you. "

"Oh, professor," Hagrid said, shaking his hand with Quirrell. He then turned to the boy. "Harry, meet professor Quirrell, he'll be one of your teachers. By the way, what are 'ya doin' here, professor, getting the new book about vampires?" He said, watching Quirrell slightly panic at the thought of the blood lusting denizens of the night. Quirrell took a minute to calm down, then looked Hagrid in the eyes:

"Q-Quite the s-same thing y-you are, I p-presume. I-I'm showing a-around Akamaki N-Nala." He sat back to expose Nala to the man. Hagrid looked at her, bowing his head, but unable of words. Giving up on hiding in the shade, Nala looked into the man's eyes, in an attempt to figure out what he was thinking. It was surprisingly easy, seeing as Hagrid didn't know how to hide his emotions. She found confusion in his eyes and kept linking her up with Harry.

"Hi." Not knowing what to do, she let out a simple greeting and proceeded to examine Harry, who was now almost choking her with his gaze. Nala could see that he was not expecting such a response from her. He opened his mouth to say something, but was stopped by one of the woman in the bar, who screamed with pleasure:

"The two most famous wizards in the world, and they're sitting right in front of us! How great!" Nala shifted her attention to the woman's words. Most famous? That was news to her. If Nala could remember correctly, nobody mentioned anything about her being knows to anyone in this word, let alone famous.

"Professor, why don't 'ya join us with Ms. Akamaki, it might be faster if 'ya just went around with us." Getting rid of the half formed groan of displeasure Nala opted to let a simple sigh escape her lips at the idea, Nala nodded with a smile, keeping in mind what the fox said.

"_This is going to be a one long day._" Thought Nala, trying to figure out why she disliked Harry without even speaking to him. It was probably the chakra that she felt from his scar, the same chakra that made her nervous around Quirrell.

"**I thought about the chakra that is making you so nervous, kid, I think I know what it is.**" Kyuubi said victoriously as they walked towards a dead end, probably the entrance to the Diagon Ally. Quirrell tapped the brick wall few times, and to Harry's surprise and Nala's boredom, the wall opened. "**The chakra is similar to mine, but there is some human in it too, putting aside Quirrell's. It is little bit as if a smaller demon borrowed it's chakra to someone.**"

"_Smaller?_"

"The chakra wasn't as powerful as mine, but you and the man who got that demon chakra, probably not Quirrell though… You would stand on equal ground with him in terms of power." Kyuubi finished hastily as if it didn't like to admit that something had the potential to overpower it and its vessel. Nala shifted her attention back to reality. The wall completely opened and they were now walking through the Ally. She glanced at Harry, who was looking around with both an excited and perplexed look on his face. Just like her, he must have never seen a place like that held the wonders this alleyway did before. Nala scratched the bridge of her nose; if it wasn't for that stupid chakra, she would have been exited as a puppy just like Harry.

"_There are few things I don't understand about this. What is Quirrell doing with such chakra, is he a container for something, like I am? And how can e demon give chakra __to a human__ if he isn't sealed within?_"

"**I don't know all of the answers, but from the fact that the chakra leaks out of the man, I think he is more like a host than a container. I can't tell you too much about the demon clans and customs, it is reserved only for members…** "

"_There are families of demons?_" Nala got interested. From this life and even her past one as Hokage's cousin, she never heard of demon clans, just about the nine demons.

"**I will tell you later, all of it, because the fact that I am sealed in you actually makes you a member of the clan. You should pay attention to what is going on around you, it is quite interesting.**" Kyuubi ended their talk which let Nala know anything she said from then on would fall on deaf ears. Nala was impressed Diagon Ally still stood, seeing how many things went on along its length every day. There was a wide variety of shops with seemingly useless items that wizards used, like brooms and owls.

"N-Nala, D-Dumbledore informed m-me t-that you have y-your money with y-you." Quirrell said all of the sudden. She looked at her party to see that Hagrid and Harry were walking away and Quirrell was dangerously close to her. She gave herself a second to think about killing the man before her, telling Dumbledore that it was an accident afterwards, then went back to trying to figure out why he asked her.

"Yes." She said after realizing that she probably missed out on a piece of the earlier conversation. "I should have enough money to buy half of this street." Nala allowed herself the joke since she realized that no one would tease her about being 'soft' in this country.

"G-good. L-listen, I n-need to t-take c-care of s-something s-so why d-don't you g-go pick out a w-wand in t-the mean t-time." Nala focused all of her energy into imagining Quirrell's death so she wouldn't do it in the real world. He was treating her like a child, and that was one of the things she couldn't stand. If she counted her age together, she would already be over twenty-five. "T-the s-store i-is o-o-over t-there." Quirrell pointed shakily, noticing Nala's killer intent. Not wanting to talk to the man anymore, Nala nodded and turned to go in the direction of the finger. As she walked, she silently murmured all the curses she knew, always adding Quirrell's name after it.

She got in front of the shop and took a moment to calm down, wondering what was up with all there mood swings. She looked at the small and beaten up store with a gold sign saying something she couldn't even read, seeing that her English wasn't good enough to read more than one font. She felt a man move inside, going from corner to corner, side to side, and sometimes up and down. His chakra was different from other people in the Ally; unlike others, who had much higher amount of the deformed 'magic' chakra and a little of unused 'purer' chakra, he had both of them perfectly balanced. Nala wondered if he ever used ninja techniques or been in her village, since it seemed unlikely that someone could harvest their chakra without proper guidance. Her curiosity rising, she stepped in the shop. Nala felt him move again, this time behind her and before he could scare her, she turned around to face him.

"Good evening." The man said, looking slightly surprised that she could pinpoint his location before he started speaking. Nala's curiosity at this man raised by few notches; he had the stealth of a chuunin, even through it must have just been magic. "I assume you came to pick your wand, Nala Akamaki." He went to the counter.

"Yes, but before that, I would like to say that trying to sneak up on someone who is heavily armed, doesn't think twice about killing and has heavy mood swings today is a really stupid idea." Nala pointed out, following him to the counter. He laughed, and looked at her with curiosity in his pale old eyes.

"Perhaps, yet I wouldn't get killed that easily." He said, his voice as serious as Nala's, then added teasingly. "But then again, everybody says that. Shall we get to the wands?" Nala liked this man; He reminded her of home a little with his attitude. "Which hand will you be using, Ms. Akamaki?" He said, his back turned to her, looking over the boxes with wands.

"I can use both, but I prefer my left hand…" Nala said, then adding mentally for her own amusement. "_When handing my sword and killing._

He took out three slim cardboard boxes and placed them on the counter. "We use unicorn mane, phoenix's tail feathers, and pieces of dragon heart for the centre of each wand, the best quality. Here, try this one." He revealed a small wand in the first box. "Unicorn's hair and oak wood. Ten inches." Nala picked the wand up, but before she could do anything, he took the wand out of her hand. "No, no… Try this one, Ms. Akamaki." He gave her another one. "Also oak but with dragon's heart and thirteen inches long. It is perfect for curses." Nala placed her finders around it, but before she could grab it, Ollivander already took it back. "Not to worry, how about this one,…"

An hour and a half later the shelves were almost empty, and both Nala and the shopkeeper sat down, Nala with a feeling of hopeless, the shopkeeper with an air of confusion and despair. Maybe Dumbledore was mistaken and she wasn't supposed to be a wizard. She would just have to return home and continue with her ANBU duties, maybe join a new team. "This…" Ollivander said, his voice filled with something similar to despair. "Something like this never happened to me. Every wand that I gave you rejected you, I can't see how that is possible." He was quiet for a little while, as if trying to come up with a plan. Nala watched him for few minutes, enjoying how his expression changed with his thoughts. After some time, right in the middle of a gloomy face, he victoriously jumped up and without a word he ran to the far back of his shop, disappearing for a while. Nala waited, still not believing that there could be a wand that would suit her.

"_Maybe I am just a normal person._" She turned the gloomy thoughts around in her mind. "_Maybe I should just go back, that would be the best thing…_"

"**Or maybe you could stop whining and pay attention; you are in for a treat.**" Kyuubi finally started talking again, probably because Nala's thoughts were testing its already low level of tolerance. Alerted by the fox's statement, Nala stood up and went over to the counter through the piles of boxes. Mr. Ollivander finally returned with a white box, his face as if glowing with excitement.

"This," He tapped the cover of the white box. "Is something that I made myself sixty years ago, in a place called Fire country." Nala slightly jumped up when she heard that, seeing that her suspicions have been confirmed. Not even noticing Nala's change of mood, Ollivander opened the box to reveal the wand. "It is made from Artic wood, a foreign type of lumber that turns white when it dries. Fourteen and a half inches long, and inside…" He stopped to catch his breath and calm down, "Inside are tail hairs from a demon fox." Nala looked at the wand closer. It was all white with a design similar to leaves going around the wand's handle. "For all these years, I was never able to sell it, because everyone who touches the wand is judged by it, which is where it got its name – The judging wand. If this wand doesn't fit you, nothing will, but I feel that there is a connection between what is inside of you and what is inside of this wand."

"I see, that is possible." Nala said. "_Since the demon you stole the fur from is inside of me._" She added mentally, not wanting to tell her secret. She looked at the wand, knowing that it was her last chance to become a witch. Not that she wanted to, for that matter, but still.

"**Just pick up the wand and leave, since we both know it will accept you.**" Kyuubi got impatient. Inside of that wand was its fur, for heaven's sake, there was no possible way that Nala would be rejected. Nala took the wand, and seeing that nothing happened, she flicked with the wand. Red light emerged from the end of the wand and it continued to the counter, where a miniature Kyuubi materialized. Nala looked at the beast that was sitting on the counter, red fog hiding its feet, and blinked. The fox looked exactly the same like the one in her mind, except that is didn't have the hardly sane evil grin, but rather intelligent look. Nala glanced at Ollivander who was fascinated by the fox, then fixed her gaze on the miniature demon again. The nine tailed fox stood up, and then made something similar to a bow, much to Nala's confusion. The fox exchanged one more look with Nala and then disappeared back into the wand.

There was a long quiet. Ollivander kept staring at Nala and Nala kept staring at the wand that was now giving off comfortable warmth. She was surprised that she saw the fox come out, out of all things that could happen, and judging from his expression, Ollivander was surprised too. Nala finally put her hand down and carefully placed the wand back inside the box.

"I'll take it." She cut through the silence, her voice full of victory and real happiness. The shopkeeper smiled, awoken from the trance by her voice, and charged for the wand. When she got out of the shop, the sun was already setting down, her watch reading five o'clock, and there was no sign on Quirrell anywhere. Nala frowned; the lack of Quirrell's presence made her wander just what kind of business he had to attend and if he just didn't forget about her. She looked around the street, which was still crowded with people, her eyes taking in all the signs and merchandise. She didn't see Quirrell anywhere, and when she tried to find his chakra, she didn't feel anything.

"_Either he is outside of this street, or he is dead._" Nala thought, putting the wand in her backpack.

"**I hope it is the second choice.**" Kyuubi sighted, probably going back to Nala's fantasies about killing Quirrell.

"_Me too._" Nala answered while trying to find a better place for her new wand in the backpack. Her bag had one pocket that was filled with straps and holders for scrolls of all sizes. Most of her scrolls were empty, since she expected to get a lot of stuff and scrolls were the only possible way to carry it all around.

"**Potter and the giant approaching.**" Kyuubi warned, as Nala finally found a suitable space for the wand. She looked up from her backpack, he hands unconsciously closing it, and located the two men Kyuubi was talking about. Harry had a grin on his face and looked rather innocently, while Hagrid hid all his emotions behind the beard.

"Nala, where's professor Quirrell?" The half-giant asked, looking around to spot the teacher.

"I don't know, we separated about one and a half hours ago and he didn't come back since." Nala told them the truth. "Well, I should get going; I only bought my wand so far… Not the best status."

"Wait, 'ya gonna walk around all yourself?" Hagrid asked, his eyes showing a small portion of concern

"Don't worry, I can take care of my self. See 'ya." With that, Nala ran away so the giant's words wouldn't reach her. She stopped in the middle of the street, taking out the list of things she needed from her pocket. Noticing the robes needed on her list and the shop window right next to her with nothing but the latter object littering its displays, she made her way to the shop.

"Good evening, honey. To Hogwarts?" A fat, but sympathetic lady greeted her, then without waiting for an answer, she dragged Nala in front of a set of mirrors, placing a robe over her. Obeying the unspoken command, Nala got in the robe to find that it fit her, but the old problem of range of motion afflicted these clothes as well as her civilian attire.

"Um, could I have a bigger one, please?" She asked towards the lady.

"But why, sweetie, this fits perfectly and it makes you look taller and slimmer." The lady stepped back to see the robe from a distance.

"Perhaps, but I can't move the way I usually do." Nala explained, wondering where did she got the patience. "I am afraid that if I try to jump or duck, it will rip.

"Then let me make few adjustments, come on, sweetie, take it off." She said, looking like a mother comforting her small child. Once she got the robe in her hands, she sat down and re-sew the whole thing. Nala's jaw dropped at the speed; the women could take apart and put together the black cloth as fast as Nala could kill. She was finished with the clothing in several seconds and handed it back to Nala.

"That is much better, thank you." Nala said, delighted that something actually felt like ninja clothes. "I will take five of them in the same version if it is not too much trouble, please." Nala forced herself to be polite towards the woman. Being polite was not in her personality and she felt disgusted at the fact that she will have to give a lot of respect in the school.

"Of course, sweetie." She finished four more robes before Nala could get back to the counter. "Here you go, honey, what did you said your name was again?" She asked as she counted out the price.

"I didn't." Nala forgot her politeness for a moment. The fat lady looked at her, surprised at the change of moods. Nala rather continued, curious if her reaction will be same as the people's in the bar. "It's Akamaki Nala."

"Oh, it is a pleasure to finally meet you." She sounded delighted. "I met Harry Potter about an hour ago, you two would look wonderful together." That startled Nala. She quickly paid, trying to avoid thinking about the lady's comment. Realizing that she wouldn't have enough space for the clothes, Nala quickly sealed it in one of the empty scrolls, which surprised the lady even more.

"_What a horrible thought._" Nala said to the fox, when she got out of the shop and imagined her with Harry Potter.

"**I don't know, kid, a serial killer with a demon and an overexcited kid with no experience but also a tragic past seems like a reasonable pair.**" Kyuubi mocked her, happy that she had something to amuse itself with .

"_If you ever get out of my head, remind me to kill you._" Nala scathingly remarked to the fox, not realizing that she looked slightly murderous as people started backing out of her way. Nala's expression totally changed when she stumbled across a broom store. "_How about I get one of these?_"

"**Didn't you read the letter, kid? You are not allowed to have your own.**

"_Does it look like I care?_" Nala ended the conversation, and then after ensuring that no one was looking at her, she transformed into a women in her mid twenties with dark hair and slim body. She walked into the shop, getting the attention of few men around the shop, who quickly assumed the positions of perverts, watching her every step. (A/N: Just couldn't help myself)

"Could I interest you in anything, miss?" The storekeeper humbly came, probably admiring her body. Nala went with him to the counter, smirking that the man got fooled by the most average technique there was .

"Get me the fastest broom you have here, please." Nala said, already taking out an empty scroll and more money. The man came back, holding a shiny broom. He charged her some price that Nala didn't really understand, therefore gave him at least twenty gold pieces. His smile widened, seeing that he had a rich customer. The man gave her the broom and watched, amazed, as she sealed in the scroll.

"Thank you." Nala said, disappearing in that moment to avoid questioning about the scrolls. She then went into the shop with books and bought all she needed for the first year along with few books about Hogwarts and also about magical creatures. When she walked out, Nala happily checked out the books on her list .

"_So all I need now is some kind of pointy hat, gloves, the winter coat I already got with the others,… Oh, right, the tin with, what ever they mean by this…_" Nala thought, slightly confused about what was written in the last rows of the list. Suddenly she felt a quick burst out of the deformed chakra – magic – and quickly jumped to avoid the strange light that just hit her spot. From her higher place on the wall, she looked around for the owner of the attack, determined to kill whoever it was, but all she could see was a crowd of surprised people. They were looking at her and the spot she stood in just a second ago, which now held a small crater, obviously enjoying the free entertainment.

It took Nala few minutes to realize that she was standing on a wall like Spiderman and nobody of the on-looking people saw something like this before. Not really caring, Nala continued to search for the attacker, when an old woman got her attention. She had black hair, a strict and serious look on her face, and was currently kneeling down to investigate the crater. Around her was a fog of strong chakra, indicating she was much more powerful that any other person around. After a second, Nala realized that she saw her picture in one of the books and heard Dumbledore talk about her. Jumping of the wall and landing right next to the woman, she took a look herself.

"How does it look like, professor?" Nala said in a voice loud enough that only the woman could hear her .

"You know of me, Ms. Akamaki?" She was slightly surprised. Nala gave her a fox smile, then went back to the small crater, still feeling the chakra circulating in it.

"Dumbledore is kind of a big mouth." Nala told her. "And besides, I am not that stupid – the magic around you has a different feel and color. So, can you figure out who tried to attack me?" The professor stood up, shaking her head.

"It doesn't look like they, who ever it was, tried to kill you, more like disable you. It doesn't make any sense. Your skill is exceptional, Ms. Akamaki, I never saw anyone fight a curse by dodging it quite the way you did, you must tell me about how you do it once in Hogwarts. Well, how is your shopping doing?" she looked around realizing something. "And where is professor Quirrell?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen him for two hours now, and his chakra isn't anywhere near, so either he ditched me and is somewhere outside a ten kilometer diameter, or he is dead, you choose what you like better." Nala said, earning a questioning look from the woman. "As for my shopping, I might need a little help with the last few items on the list, as I have no idea what are they saying."

"I see, you can get them in the three shops on the end of the street, just show them your list and they will bring you the items you need. Good luck, Ms Akamaki, I will be looking forward to seeing you in Hogwarts." With that she disappeared, a frown on her face.

Nala shrugged, then followed Ms. McGonagall's advise and disappeared in the direction of the shops before the attack could get on the front page of the news with her face. All of the shops were dark and strict; it looked like Nala's mind in a way. She quickly hurried out of there, checking off the things on the list. Nala looked at the list again and ensured that everything was in place. She already had everything on the list except a pet. She also had a lot of money and a lot of empty scrolls. A mischievous look took over Nala's face.

"_It's shopping time._" Nala thought, her evil grin spreading through her face. She looked around, locating a prank shop. "_This is going to be fun, it should also teach Dumbledore never to give extra money to a ten year old._" She walked into the shop, and started looking around for good items so she could scare the living hell out of the Hokage once she returned; he deserved it for sending her on this mission .

"**You are in your mid twenties if you add the ages, yet you are acting like a five year old brat. How about your motto never to hold a grudge against anybody, kid?**" Kyuubi asked, making Nala halt in her tracks.

"_Yes, and I don't hold a grudge against him, I just want to find something that I could use against him or anyone else who will give me a hard time, perhaps._" She looked around the colorful shop, and then gave up after a while since she couldn't find too many things she would understand. Nala walked to the counter, not letting her face show anything.

"What can I do you for?" The man running the shop was of a small, but thin body, his eyes shining much like the things around him.

"Get me all the standard prank items and then anything new that you have." Nala told him, evil grin spreading once more. She really did have mood swings today. "Also old classics wouldn't hurt. I don't care how much it costs." The man nodded, his face showing that he liked Nala and her way of thinking. He moved around, picking up strange things and carefully placing them on the counter into one huge pile.

"That is all I would consider standard, new, and classic." He looked up from the three huge piles of colorful objects. "Are you sure you have enough money?" Nala took out three scrolls and her money bag, leaving it still in a state of near overflow. She counted out a handsome sum of gold pieces, which she was told had the biggest value. After earning a nod from the man, she sealed her new and uttering a low 'Thank you' she disappeared from the shop, leaving an after-image behind.

"_All I need now are few birds so I can send letters home as I promised. A few more books wouldn't hurt either..._"

"**I can feel Quirrell, he is really far away.**" Kyuubi interrupted, sending Nala blow of disappointment that he indeed wasn't dead.

"_How long it will take him to get here?_"

"**About two hours, I think. His chakra is very distressed and faint. So get all the 'forbidden' items now before he gets back.**"

"_What am I supposed to get?_" Nala frowned, feeling that the fox had something bad in mind.

"**Remember the wand?**" Kyuubi said, something telling her that it was obviously going to enjoy it. "**I had control over that thing and was able to summon myself in this street and order few things.**" Nala didn't believe this. "**I could even summon myself while in you, of course it worked only when you were asleep.**" Nala's mind clicked as she finally placed the pieces together. That was why the fox told her to go to sleep so often, she just wanted to go someplace else.

"_So the wand for you is like Arashi's kunais. But did they really let a nine tailed demon fox walk around?_" Nala directed her thoughts towards Kyuubi, still not believing what she was hearing.

"**Turn left kid, and transform in this person.**" In front of her eyes flashed a picture of a woman in a cape, long hair nearly reaching her knees. She looked like Nala's other transformation, except for the distinguishing blood red color of her hair and eyes. She also had whiskers on her cheek, giving her a fox-like appearance. Not knowing what else to do, Nala transformed, feeling oddly comfortable in her new body. Kyuubi kept giving directions until they ended up in a small, dark street. There were few people there and everybody bowed once she cam closer to them. The shops were full of weapons, and rare seeming objects.

"_Why did you brought me here, do you know someone that will give me supplies?_"

"**Kid, I own this street.**" Kyuubi said proudly. "**All of the things you see here are mine, and since I am within you, they're yours.**"

"_What?_" Nala yelled out in her mind, glad for the cape that masked her confused look. "_That can't be true, it is impossible!_"

"**Don't believe me?**" Kyuubi got even more amused, watching Nala's face. "**Go to the shop on your left, there are few things I want you to pick up for me.**" Nala obeyed again, going inside the store. It looked like it had all sorts of things from books to swords to brooms. There were some animals around, but no storekeeper or customers.

"_Business is kind a slow, isn't it?_" Nala found at least one think she could joke on. She felt like someone was trying to drown her, first the whole thing about demon clans, and now she learns that Kyuubi owned a whole street of shops with forbidden items. This day just kept getting better.

"**This isn't a store, it is my personal treasury of rare and deadly items.**" Kyuubi said. "**Take everything, you might need all of these things in the years to come and might not have time to go back.**"

"I see." Nala said in to the dusty air and started sealing things she had no idea what they were in the scrolls, while muttering curses about Kyuubi, giving it a wide assortment of names for its secrecy, calling herself the same names for not noticing anything and reminding herself to kick herself for this later.

It took Nala about one hour to seal everything in her scrolls, but that was mostly because she got long introductions to the items. There were few brooms that Nala sealed with her new Nimbus 2000, swords that changed colors with different people, cloaks, and even something that Kyuubi called a vampire fox which took interest in Nala immediately. All the books were old and had 'forbidden and dark spells' in them as Kyuubi claimed. There were others like invisibility cloak and unicorn blood that Nala didn't even understood what they were for. She finished sealing the last items, two owls that would be perfect for delivering her mail, and took a look at the almost empty room, happy that she still had one empty scroll. The room still contained rugs and chairs that were of amazing value but had no magical powers and therefore Nala didn't take any interest in most of them. Out of the interesting things, Nala left out the vampire fox who was now purling like a cat next to her legs and a strange white eagle, which, seeing he wasn't going to be sealed jumped to her shoulder.

"**You look like a Zookeeper with the two of them.**" Kyuubi mocked her, not realizing that Nala didn't wanted to hear another word from its mouth. Ignoring the comment, Nala exited the shop and went back to the main street, speeding the gait with every bow she received. When she finally got on the main street, she could see that the sun was touching the horizon and where were crowds before, only few people remained. She didn't see anyone her age anywhere.

Nala shrugged at this, not wanting to think about it as she stationed herself in front of the wand shop and took more interest in the vampire fox. It was all dark red with black feet and tail. In its mouth, two long teeth showed, indeed giving it an impression of a vampire, but other than that, it looked awfully cute and cuddly (in Nala's point of view anyway). Forgetting about the fact that she didn't wanted to ask the fox anything, Nala proclaimed:

"_Why is he that special that you kept him in a room with the most dangerous items that could be found?_" Nala said while drinking the last of her water, putting the fox down for a minute.

"**He is my little cousin.**" Nala had a lot to do to hold the water in her mouth and swallow. She looked down at the fox, who looked up at her in return.

"Yo!" The fox said, adding to Nala's surprise. She picked up the fox and sat down on the ground, not really caring if anyone saw her. "How is she?"

"She?" Nala raised her left eyebrow before she realized what the fox was talking about. "Kyuubi is fine; little annoying, but fine."

"I like you." Was all that the fox said before curling up in Nala's lap.

"I will call you Vampire." Nala said, having one of her mood swings where she changed from gloomy and scared into happy and playful. "Vamy for short." The fox in her lap gave a slight groan of pleasure, symbolizing his approval of the name. Following Vampire's example, Nala closed her eyes, but letting her senses stay alert.

Nala awoke to the white eagle's warning cry. She opened her eyes, relieved to see the street pretty much the same, but only with less people. Looking around, she saw Quirrell hopping towards her, his eye's sparking worriedly.

"I-I-I-I'm s-s-so s-s-s-sorry t-t-that I-I-I l-l-left y-y-you a-a-alone.." Nala cut him off, not wanting to hear the rest.

"I understand." She said, mentally giving thanks to the bird. "I bought everything I needed, could you take me to the place I was supposed to stay in? I never knew shopping would be so tiring." Quirrell nodded as they began to walk back through the almost empty street.

"I-I hope y-you d-didn't ran i-into a-any t-trouble." Quirrell said; Nala could still feel how sorry he was and it was getting annoying. Nala thought about it, wondering if she should mention the attack or not.

"No, nothing, just a little trouble when reading the signs since my English isn't that good." She told him as they exited the Diagon Ally. Quirrell led her through more streets until they finally reached a small motel right above the train station. Quirrell gave her the key of her room, still muttering the words 'I'm sorry' in various different ways and languages, annoying Nala to no end.

"I heard you the first time, professor, there is no need to repeat things." Nala said. "Good night." Turning on her heal, she slowly walked towards her room, determined to make most use of the bed she hoped to find in there.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_Author's Notes:_

**Me: Yay! Another chapter done!**

**Sasuke: (gloomy face as usual) Aren't you a bit too exited?**

**Me: Why shouldn't I be? I didn't kill you the last time, I'm out of my depression, my beta tester is also alive,… I have all the reasons to be happy! (Starts happy dancing while claiming more reasons)**

**Kakashi: (Watches her from behind his book) She finally lost it…**

**Sasuke: Maybe we should hit her in the head… It is getting annoying..**

**Kakashi: Too much happiness for you?**

**Sasuke: I can't help it, I am that way, you know… (Stops as he realizes what he just said, and worriedly looks at Ian who is getting his kunais ready, evil smirk on his face)**

**Kakashi: (watches an idiot happy dancing between the kunais, Ian evil laughing, and Sasuke running away while screaming) I.. I'm getting out of here… anyway, review, so… You know what I mean… (Glances back at the scene behind him)**


	6. Welcome to Hogwarts

**Disclaimer: Do you have to remind me of the cruel reality?**

Chapter 6

The two weeks spent in London were mediocre, and Nala formed a habitual, and hard to hide killer intent every time she saw Quirrell. It was hard for her to believe that she could actually hate someone, let alone as much as she knew she disliked Quirrell who hadn't really done anything threatening to her yet. The man was worse than Kakashi; He lay low but constantly got lost in his thoughts – Nala was certain there was a voice in his head, but he didn't know how to mask it well enough.

Nala was looking forward to Hogwarts, because the school was surrounded by nature and nothing but nature, since the ever-present pollution of London was slowly ruining her sensitive nose. She looked at the ticket again, the fraction on it now ruining her already cracked sense of sanity. Quirrell left four days prior, saying he had to go earlier than the students since he was a professor. Nala looked around, hoping to spot someone familiar or someone with the deformed chakra around them, her eyes immediately lock onto a certain Harry Potter, who looked just as confused as she was.

"Yo!" Nala greeted him, trying to sound like Kakashi. He gave her a slight nod, seeing that she was as confused as him.

"Any smart ideas?" Harry asked her, showing her the fraction on the ticket. "You seemed like the smart type."

"We have to wait." Nala said, and then she added, seeing that he didn't follow her. "I mean, there are other people going to this school, there must be someone that we can find that will lead us there." Harry gave her a slight nod and turned around to his white owl.

"What is the number again?"

"Nine and three quarters!" A large, plump and motherly red haired woman raised her voice to her children, their conversation immediately took Nala's attention from Harry. Poking Harry, she pointed at a large family that was heading towards them. "Mom, why can't I…?"

"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. Alright, Percy, you go first." Nala and Harry both watched as the boy named Percy go through the wall, only that maybe Harry didn't see anything over the crowd of tourists that came at the moment Percy made contact with the wall. Nala understood at that moment; the wizards placed some sort of illusion on the wall, little bit like with the wall that got you to Diagon Ally. Not wasting another second, Nala walked up to the lady, on her face an innocent smile.

"Excuse me, my friend and I are first years to…" The woman gave her a wide smile.

"Don't worry sweetie, the platform is right on the other side of the wall." She said, then looked at Vampire who was comfortably resting in Nala's arms. "What a cute cat you have here…" Vampire woke up at those words and glared at the woman, but said nothing. Nala was glad that he kept his mouth shut; even if they were wizards, talking foxes would have been a little too much. "What has gotten in to him?" The lady asked, drawing back a little.

"I am so sorry, but he doesn't like to be called a cat, you see. He is a fox and is pretty proud of that." Nala said. "Vamy, get a hold of yourself." She said to the fox and held its mouth so he wouldn't say anything. When she looked up from the fox again, the woman was already paying full attention to her boys, sending them trough the wall. Nala turned to Harry, signaling him that he was to go through the wall after the twins. "Alright sweetie, you can go before Ron here goes." When the woman gave the approval, Harry walked up to the wall, but didn't go through. He was probably too nervous.

"If you are scared, just walk up to the wall and lean on it, you will fall in." Nala told him, getting slightly impatient but not letting anything show. Harry nodded, and leading his luggage cart forward, he slowly disappeared. Nala then gave a goodbye nod to the woman and followed Harry through the wall. She appeared on a long platform with an amazing train that seemed to stretch out for ever. She saw Harry before her, looking around, eyes as big as apples.

"Come on, we should probably find a place on the train." Nala said, leading the way. She was glad that all she had was a bag full of scrolls when she saw Harry's problems with his luggage. She wanted to help him, but didn't because of two simple reasons – first, if she was seen lifting up the heavy baggage like it was nothing, it would get people's attention and she needed to lay low, and second, this was Nala and she didn't feel like helping the boy. She went in the train first, holding Harry's owl cage with Vampire now securely lying on her head, occasionally sending hungry looks to the white bird in the cage.

"You need help?" One of the red haired twins asked.

"If you could." Harry said, looking angrily at Nala because she wasn't of any assistance. The twins picked up the luggage and brought it over to the empty compartment. Harry stared at Nala with a passion as if trying to bore holes through her skull with his glare.

"Whaaat? I _am_ helping you by holding your bird, Harry, what more do you want?" Nala said when the glaring didn't stop. The twins looked at Harry, slightly surprised.

"Harry.. As in Harry Potter? Is that you?" The one called Fred said. Harry smiled and rolled up his sweaty hair to reveal his scar. The twins looked at him and much to Nala's amusement, he was starting to take the color of red.

"Fred! George! You there?" A yell from the window. Taking a last look at Harry, the twins got out of the train.

"Coming mum!" The twins yelled. Nala gave Harry his owl, and then getting Vampire off of her head, she sat down near the window, sitting opposite of Harry. She took interest in Vampire and ignored Harry, who was now listening on the conversation the red haired family was having.

"**He demands an apology of how you treated him, trying to boss him around.**" Kyuubi translated Vamy's glaring.

"Okay, I'm sorry." Nala murmured quietly, so the other occupant of the compartment wouldn't hear her. He was too busy with hiding from the looks of the red haired family after they learned he was the famed Harry Potter. A loud noise that Nala couldn't identify pierced through her conversation with Vamy.

"Hurry up, the train will be leaving any minute!" She heard from outside, which made her think that the noise was probably some kind of whistle that alerted people of the train departure.

The train slowly began to move. Nala looked out the window, feeling the pleasure of leaving the over-crowded and over-polluted city. She stepped closer to the open window and breathed in the quickly passing air. Her sudden behavior got Harry's attention. As he opened his mouth to say something, the door of the compartment opened and in walked the youngest of the red haired boys.

"Mind if I join you? Everywhere else is full." He said, giving a quick look to Harry just to see him nod. Completely ignoring Nala, he sat down near the door, looking through the glass window.

"Hey Ron." One of the twins said after opening the door. "We are going to the middle of the train – Lee Jordan has a giant spider."

"Okay." Ron dismissed them, openly shivering at the thought of a spider and the prank his brothers did to him all those years ago.

"Harry," The other twin said. "Did we introduce ourselves? We are Fred and George Weasley. And this is our little brother Ron." Ron gave a surprised look at Harry, and as he turned to say something, one of the twins cut him off.

"Mind introducing us to your lady?" Fred mischievously said, not realizing that he was insulting one of the strongest people in the country. He found himself on the floor in the next second, feeling an odd pain on the back of his head. Nala got her killer intent under control and then spoke, not moving from her seat.

"The name's Akamaki Nala, and you will never repeat that sentence again if you want to live." George, taken aback by the fact his brother was lying on the floor, but the obvious source of that, Nala, still unmoving, said in a controlled voice:

"So we have the honor to see Harry Potter, the one who defeated You-know-who, and Nala Akamaki, the one who defeated all of his followers in the same room?" George suddenly forgot about his brother on the floor, as he went into his usual teasing mood. "You two really do make a great pair." The next second he found himself on the floor next to Fred, Nala kneeling down over him.

"Sorry, but he," she pointed at Harry, who looked like he didn't wanted to have anything to do with it. "He would have to do so much better to get me as his girlfriend." Nala stood up, hiding the smirk her lips wanted to form, and walked back to her seat, taking Vampire in her lap. "The pain will disappear in approximately twenty minutes. I hope I got my message across."

The twins picked themselves of the floor, grins of curiosity on their faces. "How did you do that?" They asked in unison. "We didn't even saw you move." They sat down next to Harry, Nala could see their curiosity eating them up.

"In my country, you have to be fit to do certain things. The fact that you are fit helps us in our _jobs_." Nala told them, carefully choosing her words so the occupants of the compartment wouldn't figure out that her job generally meant killing. "I am ANBU; I was trained to be sneaky like that. I have let my emotions get the better of me, I am sorry."

"That's alright, they needed it as a remainder to be more polite." Ron said, stopping his brothers before they said something stupid. "So tell us, the place you come from…"

Nala gave a mental sigh; this would be a one long train ride. She disguised her face with a smile and went into answering questions, carefully choosing her words like before. She never told them what ANBU really meant, rather disguised it as a form of special class in school that she went to before. Nala also left out anything about the number of people she killed, anything about jutsus, never really mentioned the Uchiha massacre and generally nothing about how harsh, cruel, and bloody her world was.

The conversation went on, and Nala successfully redirected it towards Harry, who was now bombarded with questions about 'You-know-who' and his life between muggles. Nala soon found herself to be enjoying the conversation, since she never really had one that could be interesting before. Their discussion shifted from wands to Quiddich, and they even found a time to talk about pets. Vampire was obviously pleased with all the attention, as none of the people in the compartment saw a red and black fox before, and were now eyeing him curiously.

"If I ever get a chance to get another pet, I want a demon too!" Ron proclaimed, holding his rat in his hand.

"But it is strange that something as cute as that would get a nickname 'demon'." One of the twins, Nala wasn't sure which one, said, petting Vampire on the head. Nala watched Vampire; he looked like he found it amusing to act like a pet.

"That is because they can grow into a size of a horse if you treat them correctly, and then they look really scary if you manage to get them mad." Nala made up an explanation, feeling the same amusement as Vampire. "I heard they can even talk!"

"I am definitively getting a demon!" Ron got exited. "Where did you get him?"

"On a street near Diagon Ally." Nala answered him, smirking for herself since the statement wasn't entirely false. "He was the only Demon Fox they had, so I consider myself lucky."

The conversation was interrupted around noon when a woman with a cart full of sweets opened the door of their compartment. She greeted them with a warm smile:

"Would you like anything, sweeties?" Harry immediately rose, followed by grumbling of his stomach, while Ron said something about home-made sandwiches. Nala thought about the question. She was hungry but didn't want to mess up her system with too much chocolate and other sweats. She went to the cart and settled for three boxes of chocolate frogs, some kind of beans, and few packs of blood pills, as they were called, for Vampire. Harry bought at least one of everything, which made him an instant best friend of all the red haired boys.

"Careful with those beans." Ron warned her, as she was about to put one in her mouth. "When they say every flavor, they mean it." Nala nodded to acknowledge his warning, then proceeded to her taste trial.

"Arashi would like these…" She proclaimed in the air as she tried out flavors like grass and coffee.

"Who is Arashi?" George asked, grinning at the strange name. Who in the world would get a name like that?

"He was my cousin." Nala said, getting lost in the past. They had such a great times together. He would always get into trouble when he was younger and she had to get him out of it. Nala remembered how he once changed the whole Hokage monument to be just her face, just to make her mad, because she wanted to get in the village undetected after her year long mission. When he appeared in front of the gate to greet her, she pulled him all the way to the Hokage monument by his collar and demanded he dispelled the genjutsu.

"Nala, you okay?" George asked. "You just stopped… So what happened to your cousin, since you said was."

"He died when he protected the village from an angry demon fox." Nala said, earning strange looks from everyone. She held up Vampire and petted him. "Don't worry, Vamy is harmless. But it just proves my fact that you should never anger one of these."

"That fox got angry? Why?" Nala had to admit that this was a good question. She still didn't asked the fox about the clans and didn't know the real reason behind the attack.

"**Because one of the ninja from your village killed my babies! I just wanted revenge!**" Kyuubi spat, her voice riddled with anger and sorrow, the sound of choking tears soon following. Nala then repeated Kyuubi's words, which caused all the boys wonder what kind of monster would kill something as cute as Vamy was. She tried to explain how people feared the Kyuubi and didn't wanted to have more on their hands, so one idiot decided to end it this way.

The conversation was once again distressed when a small boy, probably a first year, walked into the compartment, eyes full of tears.

"Excuse me." he said, holding his tears. "Did you see a frog around here somewhere?" Everybody shook their heads. "Well, if you see him…" He left the compartment, tears sprouting on his face again.

"I don't know why he mourns over it." Ron said to start up the conversation again. "If I had a frog, I would be happy to lose it. But I can't talk since all I have is this rat." Nala nodded, glad that Vampire liked her enough to stay with her as her pet. "I tried turning him into a gold mouse so he would look more interesting, but it didn't work. Let me try again..." Ron took out a beat up wand. It was broken on some places and looked like it will fall apart any second. Before he could flick the wand, the door opened again. Nala groaned with disapproval; this was just getting interesting and whoever was in the door ruined it. Nala looked up to see the crying boy again, this time with a girl that was already in her Hogwarts cloak. Before she could say something, Nala cut her off, irritation riding on her voice.

"Look," she said, drawing patience out of nowhere. "If I find you that frog, will you stop bothering us?" After a nod from Neville, the frog-less boy, Nala stood up and walked over to them, catching Neville's hand, which made him blush. She touched the hand with two fingers and swiped through it so she could catch the toad's scent. Nala brought the fingers to her nose, and finding the smell she wanted to find, she let her mind wander through the whole train, searching for any evidence of the frog. She found him on the end off the train, trying to outrun some cat. "Just wait here for a second." Nala told them, disappearing in a poof of smoke. Within a second, she separated the two animals and was back where she was, holding the tired frog. "Here, take it and make sure it doesn't get near cats again." Seeing the girls questioning and exited look, Nala flashed her Sharingan to stop the flow of questions before they got out of her mouth. Nala didn't want to hear one word about her little trick from her mouth. Then, not waiting for a thank you, Nala went back to her seat, glad that her nose still worked even after the week of breathing over-polluted air. The girl looked around the compartment, and when she saw Ron holding his wand, she sat down next to the twins, excitement on her face.

"You are going to do magic? I have to see this." Ron looked at her, obviously irritated as much as Nala was, and then cleared his throat.

"Maple, beech, linden, sycamore – let this rat be gold." (AN: please excuse if it isn't word for word, that happens if you have a book that is in a different language and have to translate EVERYTHING) Ron flicked his wand, but nothing happened.

"Are you sure this is a real spell?" The girl said. "Doesn't seem like it is worth its weight in words. I tried out some easy spells and they all worked. In my family, no one does magic…" Nala studied the girl. She was definitively smart, but didn't know how to mask it so she could use it in her advantage. She also revealed too much information, _voluntarily,_ and looked like she will explode with excitement at any second. "Oh, my name is Hermione Granger, and who are you?" That only confirmed that this girl was too carefree. If Nala would ever do that, she would find herself dead in the next second.

"_Oh, my name is Akamaki Nala, and who are… Slash, dead._" Nala recreated the scene in her mind, amused at the thought.

"I'm Ron Weasley." Ron murmured. "These are my brothers, Fred and George."

"Harry Potter."

"Nala Akamaki."

"Are you really _them_?" Hermione looked at Nala and Harry. "I've read few things about you two, they say you are the reason for the end of the war!"

"Really?" Harry asked, interested that books were written about him. Nala didn't care, she had books written about her before because of her abilities and heritage, especially the one called bingo book.

"Well, we should get back, we will be arriving soon, so I suggest you change into your robes already. Thank you for finding the frog." She left, taking Neville with her. All the boys started shuffling in their huge bags while Nala just searched for the right scroll in her backpack. Ron, who changed first, stared at Nala who was still shuffling through her backpack. She had over fifty scrolls in there, some scrolls sealed in others to conserve space. She finally took out a black scroll that she remembered she sealed the robes in, feeling slightly victorious.

"Nala, where is your luggage, I can't see it anywhere." Ron said, dragging all the attention to her.

"Ron is right, you didn't have anything with you other than that white backpack." Harry caught onto what Ron was saying.

"I have everything I need in here" Nala tapped the backpack. She placed it down, and proceeded to bite her finger. With the style she learned from Kakashi, she threw the scroll in the air, letting it roll up, and then summoned one of her new robes. That left the other occupants wide eyed.

"How did you do that?" George and Fred said in unison, much like last time, but the train stopped before Nala could say anything. Nala was grateful for the distraction, not wanting to reveal her secrets just yet.

They got out of the train. Nala took a deep breath full of fresh air, and was happy to be out of the city. The night air was cool and refreshing, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, exposing the dark sky that was full of stars.

"Is it true?" As they got out of the train, three boys went to their group. "The whole train is talking about Harry Potter." Nala looked at the potential intruders. They looked like a stupid gennin team, the small blond boy in the middle being the girl. "This is Crabbe and this is Goyle." He pointed behind him at the two dull guys who looked more like gorillas than first year students. "And they call me Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." Ron wanted to say something, but Nala invisibly stopped him, not wanting to get in a fight. The blond haired boy's chakra was twisted and there was a certain feel of power to it – he must have been from a good family. Malfoy looked at Ron and the twins. "Soon you will find that there are better wizard families than them."

"First Years! First Years!" They heard Hagrid yell on the beginning of the station. Their group went Hagrid's way, bidding good bye to George and Fred, who separated from them and reunited with their peers. "First Years! Oh, hey Harry!" Hagrid greeted him. "Nala, I have something for you from Dumbledore. He said you should look over it when we are in the boats." Hagrid gave her a small scroll that was sealed with an explosive tag. "Alright! Every first year, follow me!" Nala looked at the scroll, not wanting to think what caused Dumbledore to draw attention to her like that – there was probably a change in her mission.

They walked on a tiny road through darkness; Nala was sure she and Hagrid were the only one to see where they were going. There were trees everywhere, and Nala could smell a large body of water – probably a lake – in front of them. There was also a mass of all sorts of smells farther in front, probably the castle. She slowed down, letting everybody go in front of her so she could get a boat for herself. Nala looked at Vampire, who was still in her arms. She signaled him to take her bag and come find her later, and within a second, the fox was gone, stylishly leaving an after image behind.

"'Ya will get 'yar first view of the castle in just a moment." murmurs of excitement could be heard from every student. The castle really was like a mini Konoha. It was huge, old looking and had a feel of safety, but that was not what captivated Nala. It was the diversity of the chakra and the way it stayed a part of the castle. She felt chakra of people who must have died a thousand years ago, she even felt her own chakra from when she was there ten years ago. Nala liked the diversity. "Four people in every boat!" Hagrid yelled once they got to the shore of the lake. She could see the ten year olds almost fight for the boats in front. Using this, she took the last boat all for herself, waiting for Hagrid to begin moving the ships so she could read over the scroll without anyone to distracting her.

The boats began moving, and masked with darkness, Nala deactivated the explosive tag and started reading the scroll with her Byakugan (A/N: Refer back to first chapter if you are lost on this. Yes, she has Byakugan, but almost never uses it, because it gives her headaches), totally oblivious to the view they were getting from their boats.

"_Good evening, Nala-san_,

_I am sorry to ask you this, but I need you to look over someone specially while keeping your other duties. Your new charge's name is Harry Potter; I am sure that by now you know of him by now. I placed your name differently so you will be after him on the list.   
_

_Thank you. _

_P.S. You will receive a separate payment for this mission._"

Nala sighted as she stretched her legs. Nala wondered if she could make the hat get her in the same house as Harry. If she was with him, she could become his friend and spend even more time with him so her job will be easier, and she wouldn't have to stalk him.

"**I can make him.**" Kyuubi said, deep in thought. "**You should remember that thanks to me and your past life you have three entirely different personalities**"

"_All I need to do is let the hat decide on the personality that fits the house Harry will be in then!_" Nala finished Kyuubi's theory. As they finally reached the castle, Nala felt her whole body trembling because of the different kinds of chakra she felt from the castle. "_Guess I'll have to get used to this feeling, hopefully the tolerance to it will come soon enough._" They got of as a beach full of stones, and then walked up a road similar to the one they walked when getting to the boats. Using the darkness as her shield, Nala caught up to her new charge and his friends, looking as if she was there the whole time. After the road, their group went up a stone staircase leading them in front of a huge gate. After checking that he had everybody, Hagrid raised his fist and knocked three times.

The gate immediately opened and in the middle stood professor McGonagall in a green costume. She scanned through them and when her eyes met Nala's, she simply nodded in a greeting. Hagrid smiled at her.

"Here are the first years, professor McGonagall."

"Thank you, Hagrid, I'll take them from here." Her voice sounded even stricter than when Nala first met her. She fully opened the gate to reveal the hall. It looked rather impressive, most of it was made of stone and the only light sources were fire torches. McGonagall turned around and motioned them to follow her. As they walked, Nala could hear hundreds of conversations from the door on the right – at least half of them mentioning hers or Harry's name.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." The professor said as they all walked into a small room. "In just a moment, the…"

"**Something is wrong.**" Kyuubi said, and for the first time, Nala heard nervousness mixed with anger and fear in her voice. Kyuubi's emotions immediately took effect on Nala, she felt as nervous as Kyuubi did. Trying to ignore the demon's irregular behavior, Nala focused her attention on the professor's speech that was now talking about the different houses. "**Vampire, there is something wrong with him.**" Kyuubi said again once McGonagall's introduction was finished and they were waiting for the door before them to open so the sorting could begin.

"_Care to explain what is going on?_" Nala said, putting on a calm voice with which she hoped to cool the demon down. She adjusted her robe like they were advised to by Ms. McGonagall and was now mentally scanning the school's grounds for Vampire.

"**I don't know what did he have gotten himself into, but he has reached the second level.**" Kyuubi stated. Nala patiently waited for the demon to continue, wondering if she wasn't over-dramatizing the whole situation. "**He will be weak, so once you pull this off, you will have to go look for him.**"

"_Fine, but I still don't understand what happened to him._" Nala said. Ms. McGonagall returned and said something Nala didn't understand as she was paying too much attention to the fox. They walked out of the small room they were in, and charged to the Dinning hall in a long line.

"**You are an IDIOT!**" Kyuubi screamed so loudly that Nala was glad it was in her head, and not for real, as she was sure she would go deaf because of the volume. Kyuubi calmed down since she screamed out almost all of her anger and fear. "**In my family, you get tails with experience and knowledge, and Vampire just finished growing a second tail.**" Nala mentally gasped in shock, her inner expression going over her whole face in the real word, but luckily it was disguised by the fact that they just entered the dinning hall and everybody was shocked. "**The transformation stopped… I can feel it…**"

"_Good, now let us focus on our duties._" The line stoped as they reached the end of the four tables in the room. Before them there was a separate table for the professors. Once Nala saw Dumbledore, who was looking at her, she slightly raised the scroll and nodded, confirming that she understood the mission.

McGonagall got her attention again as she placed a four-legged stool in front of them and on it a beaten up hat. Nala sensed a strange chakra radiating from the hat; it must have been the sorting hat Dumbledore talked about. The hat twitched and as the room fell completely silent, it began to sing:

"Oh you may not think me pretty,  
but don't judge on what you see.  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
a smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,  
your top hats sleek and tall.  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
and I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head  
the Sorting Hat can't see.  
So try me on and I will tell you  
where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,  
where dwell the brave at heart.  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
set Gryffindors apart.

You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
where they are just and loyal.  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
and unfraid of toil.

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
if you've a ready mind.  
Where those of wit and learning,  
will always find their kind.

Or perhaps in Slytherin  
you'll make your real friends.  
Those cunning folks use any means  
to achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands, (though I have none),  
for I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The whole hall started clapping once the hat finished, which was now bowing to the tables. Nala let out a low groan; she was informed about the hat, but no one cared to mention the fact that it will go through her mind and see her secrets. It didn't really matter if he saw other students' minds, since their secrets weren't the facts like that they were serial killers, had a demon inside of them, already lived through the age of ten once, and was doing all of this for strength, power, and money.

She looked at the hat as the professor began shouting the names and thought of a way to get the hat from telling her secrets. After few minutes and names called out, Nala once again eyed the head, allowing herself a smirk. "_I am always up for a good challenge._"

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**_Author's Notes:_**

**Me: Ha! Still no depression as I finish this chapter!**

**Kakashi: Ah, that's good… You lost the bet, Fugaku, pay up. (Kakashi smiles victoriously, or at least does that weird eye thing that looks like a smile)**

**Me: You were bidding on if I would get depressed? (Insert killer intent here)**

**Kakashi: (the smile-thingy not vanishing) Nooo, of course not… We were just bidding on if you could stay happy. See? A totally different thing.**

**Me: Well, since I AM happy, I will let you live as long as you promise to never bid on things like this again with Fugaku. Speaking of which, where is Sasuke? He usually is here by now. (Ian hides the bloodied kunai behind his back)**

**Kakashi: Maa, does it matter? I won a bet!**

**Me: How much did you win anyway? (Kakashi moves up a little and whispers the sum) Holly shit! I want my share!**

**Kakashi: Huh? Why?**

**Me: Because the bet was ABOUT ME, that's why.**

**Kakashi: Not even in your twisted little ninja dreams.**

**Me: Oh yeah? I'm making you another bet, and I'm doubling the price!!**

**Kakashi: (Interested in what I'm saying) Your ON! Oh, and what are me going to bet about anyway?**

**Me: That the readers will review! I say they will.**

**Kakashi: And I say they won't, they never do. (A guilt trip for the readers)**

**Me: Well they will since if they don't I will personally hunt them down. I will not loose this bet since it would get me depressed.**

**Kakashi: So all I have to do is make another bet with Fugaku that you will get depressed and I win two bets without any work? Yay, Easy Money!**

**Me: Readers! Pleeeeaaaase, Pleeeeaaaase, Pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaase don't let me down and make me loose this bet! Pleeeeaaaase! **

**_Beta's Notes:_ **

**Ian: hm…there's no authors notes (that anyone cares about XD) so I felt I should bring a few things to your attention. I like pie, sleep, drawing, Naruto and death on a stick :3 everyone, please try to make my author depressed!! U KNO WHAT I DO TO EMOS :D huh…I think I'm the first beta to have ever done this…GO ME!XP secretly bets 15,000 that she doesn't get a review and high fives Kakashi **


	7. Two Demons

**Disclaimer: Everybody who things I own Naruto or Harry Potter please reaise their hands! (crickets) See? I don**'**t own Naruto or HP.**

Chapter 7

"Uchiha Akamaki Nala!" McGonagall announced, turning to the last student who was patiently waiting to be placed. Nala smirked before walking forward to the Sorting Hat, oblivious to the heated whispers of her peers.

"_Are you ready, Kyuubi?_" She asked the demon in her head. For a second Kyuubi gave an uncomfortable laugh, although ignorant in the upcoming task she was ready for the prospect of a new challenge. Maybe…

"**It's been a long time since I last tried to blackmail a talking hat.**" Kyuubi jested. "**Now remember, you might not understand what I will be saying to the hat so just sit back and enjoy**." She managed to warn her container before the hat fell over her eyes. Nala felt the uncomfortable probing of someone intruding upon her mind. She suppressed the natural instinct to take of the hat and fry it with a Katon jutsu. After all, it might be an improvement to its already wrinkly and tattered persona. The hat, reading her less than savory thoughts decided to take a few seconds to think before it announced its ideas on her placement.

"There is more to you than meets the eye," it started hastily. "Memories of the second life, they make my job that much harder. One life was happy, ended carelessly by a man in this room – it marks loyalty in every step; the other full of hardships and suffering. Which one I should evaluate you by?"

"_Kyuubi, do something, now!_" Nala yelled in her head, hoping her thoughts would reach the fox.

"**She is air, but a lover to fire, a rival to earth, and a comrade to water. Loyalty strikes her steps.**" Kyuubi said out loud in her demonic voice. The fact that there was another voice in Nala's head made the hat panic, the demonic feel to it made it even worse.

"Gryffindor!" The hat yelled in response to Kyuubi's statement. "I don't care anymore, two demons hidden in her mind, one seen and recognized, the other lurking in darkness…" The hat continued in a quiet voice so only Nala and McGonagall could hear it over the clapping of the third table. Alerted and surprised, Nala ripped the hat off to keep it from saying anything more, but before the Sorting Hat came off it managed to spit out one more thing: "… Too much blood…"

Nala ran to the table and took a seat with Harry, Hermione, and Ron, pretending that she didn't hear anything. She shook hands with some Gryffindors who were all overjoyed to have both Harry and her aboard. This continued for few minutes before everything calmed down after Dumbledore's quick speech. The room fell much quieter, probably because no one tried to talk with their mouth full. Nala looked at the food before her, feeling disgusted by the things others literally threw in themselves.

"Nala, are you okay?" Harry asked, seeing that she didn't try any of the food. Nala smiled at her new charge, showing a perfect definition of happiness on her face, and then grabbed the meat in front of her. She directed her attention away from Harry, keeping just one eye on him and started chewing the alien food she had on her plate.

"_Kyuubi, the hat said something about two demons, 'one seen and recognized, the other lurking in darkness...' What the heck is that supposed to mean?_"

"**I have no idea, kid, but since the hat was able to access your locked memories about that mission with Dumbledore, maybe there are more memories that I haven't seen…**" Kyuubi thought out loud. "**You did live through this age before…**"

"_Where are you getting with this?_" She directed a single thought towards Kyuubi, not really interested in her theories. The food before her wasn't so bad, it had an exotic flavour in it, and she had a suspicion that someone just spilled as many herbs and salt over it and didn't care how it came out. It was indeed an interesting taste. She also didn't have chopsticks, which made the trip from the plate to her mouth slightly harder. Nala looked around, and then with a quick flash of Sharingan, she copied Percy's noble and distinctive table manners.

"**I might be sharing this body with another demon; something that isn't fully awaken…**" Nala dropped her fork. She disguised her face with her emotionless mask a second later, and while slowly finishing her food, she took some time to think over what Kyuubi thought. She couldn't remember anything about another demon being sealed inside of her, and it should be impossible for her small body to hold that much power, even if she was the Fourth's cousin and had practically limitless abilities. They would tell her if she had a demon inside of her before, they would tell her… right? She fell oblivious to the whole hall as she went over her whole life that she led before.

Nala was so occupied that she didn't even noticed the whole hall singing some kind of song and that desserts some were already appearing on the table. The possibility of having another demon sealed inside of her was as high as the possibility of walking down the street of Konoha and someone calling her 'Nala-_sama_'. In other words, there was almost no chance at all. If it wasn't another tailed demon, what did the hat mean?

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"At last, I am so tired." The boy next to her proclaimed, trying to get her attention for the sixth time today. Nala looked at him, mentally asking herself why someone would be interested in her, and then quickly loosing any interest in the said Seamus Finnigan. They walked up the stairs in a large crowd, consisting only of Gryffindor students. The crowd stoped on the seventh floor, in front of the painting of a fat lady in a pink dress. Nala mentally noted this place as the entrance to the tower in her mind and then started walking off, only to bump into Percy.

"Where do you think you are going?" His strict voice questioned her.

"I forgot something in the hall; I just want to get it." Nala activated her Sharingan again, wondering if she wasn't taking too much advantage of her bloodline... nah… Percy just nodded, completely hypnotized by her blood red eyes, and then let her walk past him. Without breaking a sweat, Nala walked down the stairs and then, after checking that no one was following her or could see her, she jumped out of the window in front of her. "_Lead the way, Kyuubi._"

Nala started running in the course the demon directed her. Using the Body Flicker Jutsu, she speeded up her gait even more for few seconds. "**He should be somewhere between those trees.**" The worried demon said. Nala looked ahead, activating her Byakugan to see better. She finally located her fox deep within the forest. Vampire looked exactly the same; he was the same size, had only one tail, and the same color. The only thing that was different was his chakra; it felt more demonic now, Nala could feel the second tail in him. She arrived after few minutes of non-stop running and took a second to look around without the Byakugan. All the trees around Vampire were damaged, and it looked like there was a massacre going on just few moments ago. Nala picked up her bag that lay next to Vampire, and after securely tying it to her back, she picked up the unconscious fox.

"I hope I will not go through something like that again." Vampire regained consciousness when she was half way back to the castle.

"What happened?" She looked at the fox with genuine concern. "And why do you look the same as you did before?"

"You can usually choose what kind of appearance you want to have." Vampire answered wearily, his head resting on Nala's shoulder. "A one tailed fox demon is as big as a dragon, two tailed, that's me, can be as big as mountain. I like this size because it is practical." Nala just nodded, implying to the fox that it should be quiet now to conserve energy. She looked at the Gryffindor tower, and then pumping as much chakra as she could in her feet, she began climbing the tower so she could get to her dormitory through the window. She mumbled few curses for not waiting to hear the password. After some struggle, Nala finally ended up in front of an open window leading to her new bedroom. Without being noticed, she went through the window and then to the door. She then closed the door, making it look like she really walked through it. The four girls in the room looked at her, before welcoming her with warm smiles.

"Nala, where did you go?" Hermione asked. Nala looked at her, deciding to have a normal conversation.

"Vamy here got lost, so I went to find him." She returned the smile. "Oh, would you mind introducing your selves? I already know Hermione, but I'm sorry to say that I don't know the rest of you."

"I'm Lavender Brown." The girl to the left of Hermione said.

"Parvati Patil."

"Samantha Hopkins. Just call me Sam." The girl on the farthest bed told her, widening her smile. "Soooo, I heard that you know Harry Potter, how is he? What type of girls does he like?" While walking to her bed, Nala looked at the girl, not understanding how someone could have a crush on someone like Harry Potter.

"_Civilian girls and their stupid, minor worries and emotions._" She thought as she placed all the scrolls from the backpack on her bed. "I don't know, I haven't talked to him that much."

"Then when you talk to him again, be sure to ask him. By the way, where is your luggage?" Parvati asked, moving closer in to examine the scrolls.

"I have everything I need in these scrolls." Nala answered, taking the scroll that Parvati took to examine from her hands. She opened it, and after dropping few drops of her blood onto it she unsealed her two owls and then let them out on their night hunt through the open window that she came by just few seconds ago. As she turned, she could see that all the girls were now all over her scrolls, trying to figure out how they worked. Nala sighted and walked over to her bed, where she then pulled out her empty luggage that Dumbledore placed there for her from under it. "This is little bit like magic." Nala showed the scrolls as she unsealed her civilian clothes. "This magic allows me to place one object within the other." She then picked out the scrolls that had her ninja weapons, her ANBU uniform, and all the forbidden things she got from the Diagon Ally and placed them carefully in her luggage. "Soooo, what do you like about Harry Potter?"

"Oh my god, he is like, sooo…" Sam started naming all the different things. Nala smirked for herself as she continued to put away her stuff.

"_Okay, this could work._" She thought. "_I won't be that hard to redirect all the attention to Harry while I just stay in the shadows, secretly watching over his every step._" The thoughts made the trained killer's smirk widen into a full smile. "Oh, do you know what class we will have first?" Nala asked in an attempt to redirect the conversation once she got bored of listening of all the great things Harry is and does. Hermione caught this chance to get a word in and Nala then proceeded listen for half an hour to the brown haired girl as she kept talking about policies and traditions and the way things went. By the time she finished, all of the other girls already fell asleep. "Well, I guess we should follow their example." Nala gave a smile, looking around. They changed into their pyjamas (Nala feeling awfully, since she wasn't used to sleep in this kind of… thing) and turned off the lights.

Nala lay on her back, staring mindlessly at the ceiling, trying to get her head to think as she tossed around every once in awhile beneath her covers. She was now officially a first year Hogwarts student and also in charge of protection and security at the school. She liked the idea that she could do what ever she wanted and wasn't bound by any rules. She would have to be careful, though, as none of the teachers knew about her immunity to the rules and she wouldn't want to reveal herself. Nala also felt that there was traitor at the school, even if it looked really safe. She would need to talk to Dumbledore about her separate room; Nala needed it now more than ever, since she had all the forbidden articles from Diagon Ally. She closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep this time.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Nala woke up as her watch read five o'clock and felt oddly refreshed. She didn't sleep so well for a long time, because there was either an urgent mission or Aki screaming for attention in the earlier days, umm nights. In other words, she always had something to do during the nights. Nala shifted in her bed, which immediately woke up Vampire, who seemed to be in a better shape than he was yesterday. Figuring out that it was useless to stay in bed once she was awake, Nala quietly got out and created a shadow clone who took her place in bed. She then took few scrolls that had her ninja uniform (the standard Jounin one for change) and also the scroll with the brooms and blades. Not wanting to make more noise than she already did, she jumped through the still open window, Vampire following her close behind.

"What are you going to do this early in the morning?" Vamy asked her once they were on the newly created wood meadow that Vampire made when he was going crazy with the second tail. Oblivious to the fox's question, Nala opened her first scroll to seal out her uniform and her mask, enjoying the sensation of the rough material the mask was made off since she didn't get to wear it for a whole week. She adjusted the Jounin west and then hid the scroll in one of its holders. She also hid the swords scroll, since she was curious at how could a simple broom fly. She unsealed all of the brooms and looked over them, familiarizing herself with the design.

"_I expect that you know how to fly on these, since you had them stored along with Vampire._" Nala directed her thoughts towards Kyuubi, who gave an uncomfortable laugh.

"**I tried once and that day I earned a new definition to 'Suicide with goofy style'. But Vampire should have some skills in this since he was bored once…**" Kyuubi trailed off as Nala gave a questionable look to Vampire, wondering just how could a fox ride a broom. He gave her a fox grin and then slowly changed into a human being, leaving Nala wide eyed for a moment. She didn't know that the demon foxes could transform like that, seeing that this wasn't a simple Henge, but rather a real transformation. Vampire finally finished and was now looking like a man in his very early twenties. He had black hair with red ends, and his eyes were drowning in the blood red color and split pupils. His body was all together muscular and well build, which showed off even more in his black and red tight cloth. He gave her another smile, revealing his two sharp teeth that almost stuck out of his mouth. Nala was sure that if any of the Konoha girls saw him like this, most of them would fall in love with him on first sight.

"Hey, how about I just show you and you copy the basis with the Sharingan, that way we will be able to cover more ground on one way." As he spoke, Nala noticed that his voice was now deeper and manlier than before. She mentally slapped herself to get over the surprise at his appearance, and then returning the smile that didn't fade on his face, she nodded in agreement. Nala activated her Sharingan as Vampire took the black broom and placed it on the ground next to him. With a shout "Up!" the broom magically levitated to his hand, and he just threw his leg across and with barely visible motion of his hands, he directed the broom up. Nala watched with amazement as he flew few laps around her, showing her how to move the broom up and down, right and left. He then went down and stopped in the air about a meter from the ground and got off. "Your turn, Nala-chan." He told her, keeping a friendly voice. Obeying, Nala picked out her brand new broom and making the exact same movements as Vampire just a second before, she slowly took of to the air. Nala performed the same collection of movements like Vamy a couple of times, until she was sure that she had it lived in and learned. Daring herself a little, Nala motioned the broom up, and to her delight, it followed her order. She made a circle high in the sky and then stopped her broom. She smiled for herself; this was actually easy. Nala waited as Vampire once again got on his broom and flew to her level.

"It looks so much harder than it actually is." She told him. Vampire gave her another warm smile, which left Nala wondering what kind of demon acted so softly and friendly. He proceeded to teach her some acrobatics for the next hour, and Nala found herself enjoying the lesson. When they finished, Vampire shrank himself into the fox form again and then followed Nala back to the castle after she sealed all her equipment.

Nala felt strange; she hadn't had this much fun for a long time, and the flying practice far exceeded the excitement she got from painting Iruka-sensei that wonderful color of pink two months ago. Vamy jumped on her head as she speeded through the forest and on the lake, making her feel a little like that Inuzuka boy in her academy class. She made her way to the girls dormitory, and then putting her scrolls and uniform back to the luggage, she walked out of the bedroom to take a shower.

She was showered and dressed by the time everybody else woke up, her robes hiding few kunais and a scroll with her two favorite katana. Nala hoped that she would be ready for any danger, and more importantly, school life.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Is that _him_?"

"Behind that fair haired girl."

"Have you seen his face yet?"

"There he is, look. And _she_ is with him." The whispers were everywhere they went from the time they met in the common room, and Nala happily noted that she wasn't as near as popular as Harry. Nala could see how uncomfortable it was for him, he barely made his way around, trying to find the right classrooms, and everybody was going crazy where ever they walked. They met Flinch, who looked like all the talk but no action to Nala, but the boys were terrified by his sight.

After a while, Nala became a master at time management. Every morning, she would wake up at five, left a shadow clone so that it could inform her if something was happening, and that also Nala had to partly keep concentrated on not letting the clone disappear, making the training she did until roughly seven o'clock more difficult. As she found out, the password was Caput Draconis, but she rarely went through the door. She was showered and dressed by the time everybody else woke up, and usually let her shadow clones read some books or finish her homework. She joined Harry for breakfast and then all the classes. Using shadow clones again, she left them to explore the castle, looking for secret hallways. Everywhere, where it looked interesting, she let her clones place a shuriken with a special teleportation seal on them, so she had could easily access all the places. She guarded Harry on afternoon classes and during dinner. Once they were in the common room again, she left a clone with Harry and others, just in case, and sometimes went to the restricted section of the library, where she read through the interesting books, or just walked around the castle like on guard duty. After one day, she already finished reading all of the books that were assigned to first years so she resolved to the books Kyuubi got her. She went to sleep with all the others, but stayed awake, noting that in the boys' dormitory, Harry usually suffered from nightmares.

Nala liked the class schedule. Every Wednesday, they had midnight classes where they learned about stars, which Nala found pretty easy since the stars weren't that different from back home, and she already knew every name of the stars because of orientation issues. That was where her superior knowledge ended. Three times a week, they found themselves in the gardens behind the school, studying herbs, which were much different than those in Konoha. Nala soon found herself having long discussions with the professor about the effects of such and such plants. She enjoyed this class a lot.

One of the other fascinating ones was wizard history, which offered an interesting view on what happened through the years. Nala would usually be bored during classes like that, but having a thousand year old demon inside of her who always told her what really happened, she found it amusing to compare the different versions. She had great discussions about history with their Professor Binns that sometimes took the whole duration of the class and left the whole students wondering about what really happened. Nala noted that the number of discussions that she won were higher than the number of those that she lost.

There were few other classes that Nala enjoyed. One of them was McGonagall's 'shape-shifting' but she couldn't argue in that class or make any god points. Her Sharingan was activated during most of the class, so she could copy all the moves. They wrote for the greatest duration of time of the first class, and then got a match with a command to turn it into a needle. Nala found that it was much harder then it looked. One had to tap and draw out the other chakra, which kept Nala few minutes to figure out how. Once she was able to do it, everything else was easy, and on the end of the class, only she and Hermione were able to do it.

The Defense against dark arts was horrible. The whole class stunk of garlic and Nala could only bring herself to breath after extracting chakra from her nose so she wouldn't be able to smell anything. Other students said that it was because Quirrell was scarred of a vampire that he met years ago and that might want to come and get him. Right in the first class, Nala decided to get her prank loving nature a wake up call. If he was scarred of vampires, that was nothing that a little bit of Kyuubi's chakra couldn't fix. She found her chance when he was looking through the students. Moment before his gaze reached her, Nala took some of Kyuubi's chakra and transformed her eyes and her teeth. Quirrell hysterically jumped back, landing in stacks of books that went down with him and everybody laughed. When he looked up again, he could only see Nala eyeing him innocently. Classes really weren't that bad.

During one of her guard duties, exactly three days after the sorting ceremony, she felt and heard a conversation in Dumbledore's office. It was concerning her, as she was able to tell. Walking on the wall closer to the window, she started eavesdropping, glad that she had her ANBU uniform on, witch made it easier to cling to the wall.

"I assure you that Nala isn't a threat." Dumbledore spoke to Nala's defense. From what she could figure out from the chakra signature, the person he was defending me from was professor McGonagall.

"I heard the hat clearly, it talked about two demons, what ever that means, but it said that one was seen and recognized. She could be working for You-know-who." Nala looked through the window. Dumbledore was standing next to a bird that looked awfully similar to the white 'eagle' she got along with Vampire. Professor was standing in the middle of the room, looking at him as he fed his pet. Dumbledore turned around to face her, oblivious to the fact that Nala was eavesdropping on them the whole time.

"I would find that highly illogical, Minerva, since she is already working for me." Nala almost fell down the tower as she heard Dumbledore reveal the secrets of her employment to McGonagall. She forced herself to keep quiet and listened to McGonagall as she couldn't believe what the headmaster just said. He explained to her about how he hired her when she didn't wanted to go, and listened as Minerva still didn't believe him. "Do you want me to call her here so she could confirm this?" Nala saw how McGonagall nodded and decided that it was her time to enter. She quietly climbed through the window.

"You called for me?" Nala's voice made both of them jump up and turn around, drawing their wands. Fawkes gave a small nod to her.

"When did you get here?" Dumbledore was once again the first to recover from the scare attack. He looked at her with eyes of pure wonder, he didn't have a slightest clue that she was there before.

"Just a second ago, I was on guard duty." She told them emotionlessly, something that McGonagall have not seen before from a ten year old. "I am sorry if a startled you." McGonagall looked into the dark holes of Nala's mask, looking protective, then her eyes stoped at Nala's tattoo for a second. She then turned her gaze towards Dumbledore, who looked curious at how she would react.

"I stood by your side for a long time, I never doubted any of your decisions, but I do not understand you now." She said, reserved, but then couldn't take it anymore and pointed at me, almost screaming. "She is but a child, we can not burden her wit such responsibility. She almost got killed because of all this!"

"Miss McGonagall." Nala addressed her with respect. "In my village, this is the proof that you became an adult." she showed her the headband that she always carried in her pocket. "This is the proof that I became one of the elite of my village." Nala pointed at the red tattoo. "This is the proof that I have already seen death." She rolled up her west to reveal a scar going across her stomach that she got probably from Itachi the day of the massacre, most likely after the illusion. "I have handled much harder missions that make Voldemort look like a cute little kitten in comparison." Nala's thoughts went to the memories of one of her fights with the member of a group called Akatsuki; Orochimaru was the twisted man's name.. Once she was done, Nala started walking back to the window, deciding that she would ask Dumbledore about her separate room later. "Sorry to keep you."

"Wait." McGonagall called out, which made Nala turn around to face the professor. "That horrible scar, what happened?" She asked naively, unaware to how much pain she was causing with her words. Nala was silent for a second, thinking about the answer. She then straightened her back, and looked in the professor's direction.

"That scar was given to me by my older brother on the day he savagely murdered my whole family." Nala said before jumping out of the window, barely hearing how the two adults gaped as they heard what she said. Nala let herself fall down the tower, enjoying the wind cutting her skin. She never felt good about talking about the Uchiha massacre, but then again, who did feel good about talking about their family's death? She landed on the ground, and started running towards the forbidden forest, feeling that the two professors were watching her as she ran away at the inhuman speed.

"Should we go after her?" McGonagall asked, concern in her voice.

"No. One's mind needs time alone to recover." Dumbledore answered. "We cannot even near understand and imagine all that she has been through. If she doesn't come back by tomorrow afternoon, we shall look for her."

Nala looked at the ground, her hand still on the picture that she unconsciously inscribed in the soil. She raised her hand to reveal the symbol for Mankeqyu Sharingan. Nala couldn't do anything on the day of the massacre, but still unconsciously blamed herself for it. She wondered what would she do had she met Itachi again anytime soon. Getting herself off the ground, she started walking back to the castle so she could get some sleep.

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Nala woke up late the next day, feeling oddly refreshed after telling the two professors the story behind her scar. It was Friday and they had potions today. Nala didn't feel like potions were so much of a drag like others did, she actually liked the subject because there were only herbs and other items, needing no wands. The classes were in the dungeons under the castle, which were colder than the rest of the school, and therefore perfect for keeping supplies. Professor Snape was also something else; he used simple magic to create the small things that made one scarier – like even though there was no wind in the dungeons, his black robe always flew behind him, making irregular curves. Another example was the fact that his voice echoed through the quiet classroom, even though it looked like he was whispering. Nala didn't favor professor Snape, but had to admit that for a mere wizard, he did a nice job at releasing killer intent.

Nala watched him, interested, as he was picking on her charge. By the way he stopped once he reached both of their names on his list, she would be the next to get bullied from him. She was glad that she read through and memorized the book for his class and therefore she should be able to answer all the questions he had in store for her.

"Akamaki!" Nala smiled at him as they made eye contact. Snape was taken a back by this for a second, seeing that his killer intent just brushed off on her and did nothing. He recovered from the surprise before anyone could realize it, and Nala let her smile widen. Akamaki: 1, Snape: 0. "If I asked you to get me unicorn blood, where would you look for it?" He said as Nala recognized the slightly victorious tone in his voice. Nala blinked at him; this wasn't in the book. She forced herself to think about it for a second. She had a vial of unicorn's blood in one of the scrolls and from what Kyuubi said…

"There are unicorns in the forbidden forest, mostly in the section most far away from the school. If I was to get you unicorn blood, I would have to hunt one down and either ask for a blood donation, or kill one." Nala said with a smile. Akamaki: 2, Snape: 0.

"Good, Miss Akamaki." Snape replied, not letting his loss show. "Now, what it is used for?" From his tiny smirk, Nala could see that it was a trick question.

"_Kyuubi,_" she went to the last resort, seeing that she obviously had no idea about it. "_Mind helping me out in here?_"

"**God, you are useless.**" Kyuubi said in a sleepy voice. She then proceeded to tell Nala what exactly she was to say.

"Unicorn blood isn't used for anything, because to kill one is considered a crime." Nala re-said Kyuubi's words. "But if it is swallowed, it will keep you alive no matter what." Akamaki: 3, Snape: still 0. In her victory, Nala took a moment to look around the classroom; they all looked a bit amazed that she was actually beating Snape at his own game. Hermione looked a little admiring, probably because she didn't know this information. Nala looked at Snape again, seeing that he was quietly pissed off.

"Very good, Akamaki." He said, piercing her with his eyes. "If you know this much, why don't you go and get me some unicorn blood?" Nala could sense that Snape felt victorious again. He obviously thought that she would give up on this challenge. Nala gave him a carefree smile; she was not going to loose to some civilian, not in a million years.

"Sure, may I go immediately?" Not letting a smile fade, Nala stood up. Snape was thrown off beat by her answer, to say the least. It took him few seconds to restore his normal look. Nala took a small vial from the shelf, muttering something about not having anything to put the substance in, and then made her way to the door.

"I want it by the end of this two hour class." Snape said, uncertain if he made a good choice. He couldn't go back on his words, but he wouldn't want to be blamed for the death of a ten year old. He watched Nala leave the room; she couldn't die, he reminded himself, that look that she gave him – only other murderers could give looks like that.

"**What are you thinking?**" Kyuubi tried to talk some sense into her container. "**You can just give him the blood that you have sealed in the scrolls, but it will attract attention if you return from a seemingly impossible trip to the forbidden forest in such a short amount of time, totally unharmed, and with a vial of unicorn blood.**"

"_Then I will just get a reputation of a prankster ten year old who can do anything._" Nala replied simply. For some reason, she felt angry at Snape. She felt like she knew him from somewhere, but couldn't quite put her finger on it. Perhaps she met him during the mission that her mind kept restricting. She ran all the way to the Gryffindor tower, this time using the door-painting and started shuffling around until she finally found the scroll and unsealed the unicorn blood. She stood up, opened the other vial that Nala got from Snape's classroom, re-poured it, and then securely placed it in her pocket. "_Mission completed._"

"**What are you going to do now?**" Kyuubi asked. "**You have two hours of free time.**" Nala locked her luggage again with an explosive tag and then started making her way back down from the tower.

"_I thought about going to ask Dumbledore about my new training area. Then I would look around the school for any threats. By the time I am finished, it will be time to head back._" She answered the fox, already climbing the wall with a masking technique, so nobody would see her. Nala climbed through the window to see Dumbledore walking in circles, deeply thinking. She smiled at that and dispelled her jutsu.

"Does the walking really help anything?" Nala said, enjoying how he jumped up as he heard her voice.

"Nala," He looked at Nala in a way it annoyed her the most – with pity in his eyes. "I'm sorry… I never knew that that happened…"

"It's fine." Nala murmured to him emotionlessly. She didn't want pity, it made her feel weak.

"If I knew about it before… I – I wouldn't make you come here… I wouldn't press you to leave what's remaining of your family…"

"I said it's fine!" She said, releasing a small wave of killer intent to shut the man up. "I don't need your pity, or concern, that already ended my life once." She saw Dumbledore jump. He wanted to say something, but Nala just cut him off, giving him a smile. "I wanted to talk to you about the separate room you promised."

He gave her a smile too; happy that she didn't rose up any hateful remarks against him. "Ah, yes, I would need to know where you would like it, since on every floor there is at least one empty room."

"How about I find myself an empty room, and then ask if it is appropriate? I just wanted permission for that. And one more thing, if Harry joins some clubs, would I have to join them too? Not that I mind…" Dumbledore quickly nodded to confirm both of the statements. Nala's smile widened. "Well then, I should be going."

"If you don't mind me asking, shouldn't you be in professor Snape's class about now?" Before she could jump out of the window, Dumbledore asked her, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Yes, but he gave me the class off to find something for him." She answered with a smile. "And since I already have the said item in my possession, I will use the remainder of the class time to walk around the school, doing my job." Before he could ask anything more, Nala already vanished through the window.

"One of these days I will have a long talk with her about how to use doors." Dumbledore sighted out loud, to no one in particular.

Nala walked through the grass fields behind Hogwarts, enjoying the gentle breeze that played with her long hair. She felt completely relaxed; there were no threats, she already walked through the whole castle and she still had one whole hour to herself. A small hut took her attention with everyone's favorite giant sitting on the porch. Nala stopped in her tracks and eyed him from the given distance. He had a black dog with him that seemed to sense her and started barking. Sighting, she walked few more steps to the house and started petting the dog.

"Nala, what 'ya doin' here?" Hagrid asked, once he recognized who she was.

"Oh, I was just walking around. Professor Snape let me get out of the class for some fresh air." Nala told him, wondering just how much of Snape's reputation she was ruining. "I should probably go back to class now." She gave the giant a smile and turned to leave.

"Hey, wanna come for tea with Harry later?" Hagrid called after her as the thought occurred to him.

"Sure!" Nala started running back to the castle; she had one more victory over Snape on her agenda.

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The sounds of quiet cry, a sinister whisper, and a lot of boiling liquid could be heard from behind the door Nala was about to open. She slowly pushed the door open and while keeping a neutral expression on her face, she slowly walked to Snape's desk.

"Akamaki…" Snape's face showed signs of victory as he saw that her clothes weren't bloodied or ripped, which would undoubtedly happen had she walked through the forbidden forest. "I see you have not completed my request. Ten points from…" Nala stoped him by placing a vial with the silvery liquid on his desk. She looked him in the eyes, releasing the killer intent she had in store for him. Snape in response tried to burn her with his murderous gaze.

They remained like this for a while, their looks sending shivers down the spine of all the other students. Neville started sweating while Hermione just wondered if Nala really got the unicorn blood. Nala deepened her gaze; she wasn't going to loose to any teacher, especially not Snape. Luckily, she had much more experience than him in terms of glaring and releasing killer intent. After a while, Snape broke the contact by snatching the vial.

"Very good Miss Akamaki," he said his voice deeper than usual and more sinister tone. "If you would sit down so I could finish my lesson." Nala walked to her desk and sat down, still keeping an emotionless look that prevented her from cracking up; was that fear she saw in his eyes for a moment? She decided to find out more about this particular teacher later.

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_**Autor's notes:**_

**Me: Well, I learned two very important lessons today.**

**Kakashi: (looks up from his book) Really, and what were they?**

**Me: One – that you should never trust your readers, or your evil betatester, and the second one is that it pays off living on the other side of the world when your evil beta-tester threatens to kill you.**

**Kakashi: You lost the bet, didn't you?**

**Me: I did Not! I got… (counts on her hands) ONE review!**

**Kakashi: Which means that you lost the bet, because there were 44 hits and only one review. Pay up!**

**Me: (evil laugh.. oh no, I am becoming like Ian) You know what I also realized? That this is my world. (laughs again) That means that I can completely control you, and your actions. That also means that I don't have to pay you anything. Oh, and by the way, as a punishment, you are appearing in the next chapter!**

**Kakashi: Why do I have the sudden feeling that I won't like the things you will make me do?**

**Me: Oh, no reason. But I can assure you that you will be humiliated, ashamed, mortified, and embarrassed so much, that you will never want to show your face agaiiiiin. **

**Kakashi: Oh… (scratches his head) And you do know that all those words mean exactly the same, don't you?**

**Me: STOP NOTICING THE DETAILS!!! (Sobs in the corner) you ruin every fun that I try to have. (stands up after a while of serious patting on the head by Kakashi) Anyway, please review. **

**I also have an idea of Yondaime in Hogwarts as a ghost later in the story so tell me what you think about that.**

**Ian: pulls out a blood soaked sword as a sadistic grin sweeps his face at the same time his sword falls into stance in front of him well, well, well little author, it seems you've finally cried enough to hit that lovely mark some know as emo, but I like to call the "kill on sight" point. U have 3 seconds to run, and yea, I AM behind u right now. Poor, poor you:3**


	8. Crazy birthday to you!

**Disclaimer: I disclaim my right to this disclaimer because Naruto and HP were already disclaimed by other disclaimer addicted writers. (Whee, disclaimers, they're fun!)**

**Well I got bored of waiting for the edit so this is the uneddited version of the chapter. DON'T KILL ME, KILL IAN!**

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Chapter 8

Nala looked around. She was in a dark hallway that was barely big enough to walk through. It was one of the secret chambers that were all around the school and that Nala came to know and love. They were the perfect escape routes and with her shurikens everywhere, it was easy to get from one place to another without being seen and while wasting a smaller amount of time. She started running; she was supposed to patrol the whole castle in the few minutes they had to walk from class to class. The task, of course, was impossible, even with shadow clones and her version of Hiraishin. (A/N: No, I didn't forget to explain this, it will be there later on)

Suddenly, she bumped into someone. Being a ninja, she easily regained her balance, but the two boys she bumped into weren't so fortunate and were now on the floor, rubbing their sore behinds. Nala narrowed her eyes as she stared at the Weasley twins who were standing up. They looked at each other for a second.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here, Nala?" George, who first recovered from the fall, exclaimed, almost as if trying to make sure that the first year before them wasn't just a trick of light. "Nobody is supposed to know about this hallway!"

"I found it two days ago." She told them. "And what are you doing here?"

"It's one of our escape routes from the face of crime." Fred said. "We are Prank Masters! And we know every room in the castle!" Nala nodded her head; so that was the reason behind all those strange things she found in the secret chambers and also the remark about them being in the forbidden forest. She smirked at the identical twins; the only way to distinguish them was by their chakra signature which was slightly different from each other.

"If so, then I might need your expertise." She quickly explained to them that she needed a room somewhere in the middle of the castle, where no one ever went and that was close to the third floor. After the tea with Hagrid, Harry, and Ron, she got few more suspicions about the place. She already saw the giant dog and the trapdoor, but on a specific order from Dumbledore, she wasn't permitted to go any further. "If you could find me that place, I would be glad. I can pay you."

"We don't take money for our services, try something that would come more in handy." Nala smirked again, her expression looking partially evil. She had them hooked now.

"Who said anything about money? You know, when I was in the Diagon Ally, I went to the prank shop and bought everything that the shopkeeper considered new, classic or standard." They both returned her partly evil smirk, knowing what she was thinking.

"I think it's safe to consider us your men."

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"For the last time, Hermione, I didn't do anything dangerous, and even if I did, I would be able to take care of myself."

"Say what you will, but I am on your case." Hermione answered. Nala mentally sighted; she felt like she was back at the academy where every little mistake earned her harder punishment than the others got. But it was nothing compared to Hermione trying to figure out her secret. All she did was walking from the other side than her class was in, and the girl was suspicious of Nala. That was even worse punishment then cleaning the whole academy while trying to think out a plan on how to assassinate the prince of the Crystal Country, and then trying to figure out how to get back from that mission unseen when the palace was so heavily guarded.

They walked into the Gryffindor common room and immediately took notice of a sign pinned to the wall with a handful of first years reading it, an exited and in some cases, a slightly murderous look on their face. Nala saw Harry and noted that he was okay, since she was forced to abandon him for few minutes while she got interrogated by Hermione. They got to the sign to find that it informed all first years about flying class this Thursday – together with Slytherin. Nala didn't particularly favor the Slitherins – they reminded her of the Hyuuga and Uchiha clans and how they treated others. Also, their chakra was slightly different; it felt more twisted than the other houses.

"**This should be interesting.**" Kyuubi's voice startled Nala; the fox didn't really talk to her since the sorting ceremony. "**Considering the fact that you already know how to fly, being taught by a demon.**"

"_But I have a bad feeling about this. It feels like the things that are going to happen during that class will seriously complicate my life here._"

"**We'll** **see.**"

Everyone had different feelings about the flying class. Ron was somewhat exited, Harry was pitying himself while running through different scenarios of embarrassment in front of Malfoy. Hermione and Neville were nervous because they never sat on a broom before. Nala decided to put some backbone into the students by saying that it was safe and reassuring Neville and Hermione that no one would let them fall, so there was nothing to worry about. Nala also noted that every time she even attempted to talk to Neville, the boy started blushing more than Hinata when Kiba complimented her.

When Thursday morning came, Hermione made a speech about all the things that she learned about Quiddich from books. Neville almost ate her every word, while all the others were seriously bored. Everybody was then glad when the speech was interrupted by the sound of beating wings, a sign that their letters have arrived. Nala never got too much postage, and if she did, it was either a scroll demanding a mission report, or a short letter from Shuichi about the status at home, like the results of the chunnin and jounin exams. He never wrote about the little things that she wanted to hear the most, and Nala never had the courage to ask if Aki did something hilarious like he always did. Her whole family felt distant, now that she was away. As she had seen, Harry never got much either and Malfoy of course noted that detail too.

Malfoy, it seemed, was from a wealthy and good blooded family, but much like the Hyuugas, he lacked humbleness and constantly placed himself in front of the others. It annoyed Nala even more since she could make him experience the phrase 'to die a slow and horrible death, but before that be tortured to the point where one would be begging for death'. Yet, the Slytherin brat acted like he had the power to dominate over her.

"It's a Rememberball!" Neville shouted out. Going back to reality, Nala at that time realized that her killer intent was unconsciously leaking, which made all the people worry and take one seat away from her. She quickly got her killer intent under control and looked as innocent as ever. "Grandma knows, how much I forget things," He blushed in Nala's direction. "And this ball will tell you, if you forgot something. You just press it, and if the smoke reddens… hmm…" At that moment, the smoke in the strange ball took a nice color of bloody red. "then you forgot something." Blushing again, Neville then tried hard to remember what he forgot, when Malfoy, who was walking by their table, took the ball from Neville's hands. Ron and Harry were on their feet the next second, their faces showing that they wanted to hit the Slytherin. Nala just remained calm and emotionless, seeing that professor McGonagall approached their group.

"What is going on?" she asked in a strict voice that implied 'Get away from my table or else' towards Malfoy and his two gorillas.

"Malfoy took my Rememberball, Miss McGonagall." Neville answered, trying to get rid of the squeak in his voice. Upon hearing that, Malfoy dropped the ball back on the table.

"I was just looking." he said and then almost ran away, which caused Nala to snicker. The three of them, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, really looked like a gennin team and as far as roles went, Draco really did fit into being the squeaky little girl that the other two boys had to protect.

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That evening, the Gryffindor students walked down onto the school grounds, everyone's skin tingling from the excitement they all felt. It was a sunny, but a bit windy day – a perfect setting for flying, as Nala happily noted. She had to admit that she liked flying since it stretched the whole body and one got a sense of freedom. There were twenty school brooms placed on the grass in two straight roads. As Nala heard, the school brooms were old and some of them had the tendency to always turn slightly left.

Their teacher, madam Hooch, arrived moments after the Gryffindor students. She had short, Kakashi colored hair, and yellow eyes. "What are you waiting for?" she shot at them, impatience showing in the woman's voice. "Everyone step next to one of the brooms. And hurry!" Nala, following Harry's example, eyed her broom. It looked old and used, but all in all, it still looked like a good broom. Ms. Hooch started instructing them on how to call their broom up, and Nala used that moment to look around to find out people's reactions. Neville looked as nervous as ever, and Hermione was pretty tense.

"_Up!_" Everybody screamed. Harry's broom immediately levitated into his hands, and so did Nala's. Few of the brooms were rolling on the ground, and others didn't move at all. It looked like the brooms reacted to the frequencies in one's voice; it the person was afraid, the broom wouldn't do anything. After the whole class got their brooms under control, Mss. Hooch started walking around them, pointing out things they were doing wrong. She complimented Nala on her technique and gave Harry a sign of approval over his, which made him as happy as a puppy.

"When I whistle, you are going to get off of the ground. So ready – three – two -" at that moment, Neville started flying off the ground, totally panicking. "Down boy!" Nala heard Ms. Hooch yell, but she didn't pay her a lot of attention. Neville was still going up.

"**Shouldn't you do something?**" Kyuubi asked her container. "**You are responsible for the students' safety.**"

"_Since when do you care?_" Nala shot a though back to the demon before yelling out: " HOLD ON, NEVILLE! YOU CAN DO IT!!" Neville blushed, and his grip on the broom slightly tightened, but the broom still continued up. After a while, probably at the height of fifty meters, he started slipping. Nala started running through hand seals, cursing slightly at inability of civilians.

The whole class watched in horror as Neville started falling down… and as Nala caught him, using her chakra to stand upside down on the broom Neville slipped off of. She tightened her grip on his wrist in a sudden fear of letting him fall. "Don't look down." Nala told him, and surely enough, the boy's gaze started slipping down. "I said don't!" She raised her voice to imply the importance of the sentence. "Just keep looking into my eyes and keep listening to my voice." Neville nodded and tried hard to focus on his crush's eyes. Once she was sure she got the boy's full attention, she started speaking again. "Now, I will start slowly lowering us down…" Nala directed the broom down by her left foot. During the whole time, Nala kept on telling the nervous boy random things to keep his attention. "Okay, we are down, you should feel the ground about… now." Neville's feet touched the ground and Nala slowly released her grip. Once Neville was safely on the ground, she spun around so she would be kneeling on top of the broom before lowering herself down too. When she reached the ground, she gave Neville a big smile. "Did I hurt you? I didn't mean to." She said, pointing to the wrist that had finger-marks on it from when she held him in the air.

"I-it just hurts a little, but better broken wrist than every bone in my b-body, right?" He blushed again. "How…"

"How did I get up there in time to help you?" Nala finished the sentence for him. She figured that she might as well tell them a little bit of truth. "I applied a technique that uses a purer form of magic – which is why I didn't have to use a wand – and replaced the air up there with me." They all gave her a look that implied 'what the bloody hell is she talking about'. Sighting, Nala got off the broom and then as slow as she could, she ran through hand seals for a replacement jutsu, the class swallowing up her every move. In the next second, what everybody believed to be her body disappeared in a poof of smoke and she suddenly appeared next to unsuspecting Malfoy. "Yo!" She said into his ear. When hearing the voice so close to him, Malfoy almost got a heart attack. With a scream, he jumped into the air and attempted to run away, which set the class laughing.

"You all stay here while I walk Mr. Longbottom to the infirmary. If I see one broom in the air, the person sitting on it will pack their bags. Akamaki, you are coming with me." Nala nodded after hearing Ms. Hooch's words. The bad feeling she had yesterday kicked in again, but she decided to let it go. Nala looked around to see reaction of the students but rather saw something shiny in the grass. She took Neville's rememberball of the ground and then hurried after madam Hooch.

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Nala waited outside the infirmary while Neville's hand got fixed. She still didn't understand why she was dragged all the way from the class. The bad feeling didn't go away, rather it intensified.

"Ms. Akamaki!" She heard her name called. As she looked up, she saw professor McGonagall marching to her. "Come with me." The professor's voice didn't have any specific emotion, it almost sounded like McGonagall was confused herself. Nala opened her mouth to protest, but closed it again before any sound came out, rather choosing to obey the older woman and take a second thought on the situation.

They walked in silence, both of them lost in thoughts. A series of staircases, empty hallways and passwords later, they stood in front of heavy wooden door. Nala took in her surroundings – there were a lot of rare objects, some looking familiar as she have seen them in Kyuubi's 'personal treasury'. From the presence behind the door, Nala realized that she was probably in Dumbledore's waiting room. Having always come through the window, she never saw this part of the tower.

The door opened to reveal Dumbledore walking in circles. Nala mentally sighted; he seamed to be doing that a lot. He stoped his usual thinking procedure and looked at them, eyes full of puzzlement. "Minerva, did she do something?" Carefully choosing his words, Dumbledore asked, not really sure if he even wanted to hear the answer.

"No, but as you said that I should first discuss with you before making any decisions concerning Nala…"

"Ah, yes, yes, I remember. So, what would you like her to do?" Dumbledore's puzzled look was replaced with understanding, while Nala became even more confused. He gave McGonagall orders on how to act around her? If he did this without Nala's knowledge, what else could he have told? Nala hoped he didn't tell any other teachers about the mission. She would hate having people like Snape knowing, it would be down right annoying.

"I would like her to be the Seeker for the Quiddich team."

"**_WHAT!_**" Kyuubi and Nala screamed in unison. "B-But, w-why?" Nala felt like Quirrell at that moment. If she was to become a member of a sports team, her cold and merciless reputation between the Konoha's elites would be ruined. She could almost see Kakashi getting his hands on the fact… Once she would go back to her original duties, she wouldn't be able to show her face at the ANBU headquarters for a while. A Seeker for a Quiddich team… That sounded like a thing people like Harry Potter would do! "I am sure that someone like Harry would be better for the job." She voiced her thoughts.

"I already chose, Ms. Akamaki, please give it a chance." McGonagall almost sounded pleading.

"O-Okay." Nala gave up on arguing after a while. Just like her whole participation in school, it was a hopeless fight, she concluded.

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"I see, so you already have a broom." McGonagall said, fixing her gaze on Nala. For a second, it looked like she was going to be angry. Before Nala could shield herself from the yell that was sure to come, the professor did something unexpected – she smiled. "That is good, at least we won't have to order you one. Bring it to the stadium tomorrow at seven and Wood will see if it fits for your role in the game."

"Understood." Nala answered the teacher, trying hard to sound positive and happy.

"Well, I should really be going, I have a dinner to go to, right?" Without waiting for an answer, she started walking away in an attempt to escape the professor. She didn't feel like herself since she got the news, but wasn't intending to give up. "_This is a mission, after all._"

She arrived to the dinner about fifteen minutes later. She ate in silence, working out a strategy for the future. If she was to have practice every week or so, and still keep it a secret until the first match, she would have to change her patrol schedules and result to overuse shadow clones, but it was manageable.

"Akamaki!" The call took her out of Nala's thoughts. Recognizing the voice as Malfoy's, she put away her food, and started to get out of her seat. The stupid Slytherin brat was the last she needed right now. Malfoy, who was standing behind her up until now, saw this as a hint of fear. "I'm not done with you, Akamaki, you will pay for today. Or, did you already get expelled for the stunt you pulled?" Nala gave him a tired look that was full of exasperation, and proceeded to walk away from him. "What, are you scared of me? You coward! You are a coward and so is your whole family!" Nala stopped dead in her tracks. So far, nobody, who insulted her cousin or the Uchihas in front of her got out of it alive.

"Cut it out, Malfoy!" Parvati stood up to Nala's defense.

"Why should I?! She would never be able to touch me because of who my father is, and besides, she surely comes from a family full of idiots and cowards! That goes about everything about her." Kyuubi got stuck by this. Unconsciously, Malfoy was now insulting her and her clan. Malfoy was insulting the demons.

"Shut up, Malfoy!" Ron tried to help defend Nala, but was shut quiet because of the strange feeling that was radiating from the ninja in disguise. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but at the moment, she seemed a lot scarier than even professor Snape.

"Never…" Nala said out loud, anger burning inside of her. She could feel Kyuubi's chakra flowing through her body, quickly deforming her usually gentle features, yet she decided against stopping it. Nala slowly started turning around to Malfoy. "Never insult my family in front of me, or I'll kill you." Malfoy started to shake in fear as he stared into the slit, blood-red eyes. He felt the immense power waves that were coming from Nala and could see a strange red fog forming around the girl's body. She made a step forward.

"D-don't!" He cried out instinctively. "You c-can't do anything to me because i-if you d-do, m-my father will…" With one quick step, Nala appeared in front of Malfoy, holding him off of the ground by his neck. The whole hall silenced, utterly shocked by Nala's strength and power.

"Do you think your father would be any match for me?" Nala's voice sounded deeper and more demonic now – a sign that Kyuubi got the word. "The last time I saw him was when he was cowardly running away from me ten years ago." Kyuubi gave a sigh. "I should have killed him when I had the chance." Their audience openly gasped at Nala's revelation. Nala, who got the control over her body again, tightened her grip against Malfoy's neck, which made him cry out in pain. "If you ever speak foully of my family again, I will make sure that you spend some quality time in the hospital – a few years maybe." She released her hand that transformed back into the usual form since the demon's chakra faded out when she was talking. Malfoy fell on the ground with a loud thud, but immediately looked up at Nala, fear in his eyes.

Looking at him, Nala felt tears coming to her eyes. Without quitting the eye contact, she used the Kaze Hirashin shuriken in her room to teleport herself there.

Nala appeared in the girl's dormitory, still holding her tears. She felt great sadness and sorrow for her two lost families and despised if someone disrespected the dead like that, but that was not the reason she was almost crying now. She felt self pity and the very fact alone made her want to cry. Nala never understood why she was cursed with survival. She survived the sealing of a demon, maybe even two times. She survived a massacre along with many un-survivable missions that always left her team-less afterwards. Nala couldn't understand why she was forced to see so much death. Unable to hold the tears back anymore, Nala fell on her bed, crying.

"I knew it!" She heard behind her, but didn't bothered to look up. It was Hermione. "I knew that I would find you here, crying." Nala didn't answer for some time.

"Did you came here to make me feel even more miserable than I already am?" The unexpected question stuck Hermione like a poisoned arrow.

"N-no…" She lowered her head, then walked over to her bed. "Do you want to talk about it? I have never seen anyone react like that, whatever the power that appeared out of nowhere was."

"It's because he doesn't know who he is insulting." Nala forced the tears back. Her moment of self pity was over. "My cousin, Arashi – no," Nala realized that there was no point in trying to hide his real name; after all, her cousin was dead and the nickname Arashi was only used for the protection of the family members. Since she was in a land where no one ever heard of him, she could give away his real name freely. "Namikaze Minato, he always watched out for me. He might have been my cousin, but it felt like he was my older brother in every aspect."

"What happened to him?" Hermione asked, the tone in Nala's voice making her slightly nervous. She wanted to ask tons of questions, but refrained herself for Nala's sake.

"There was a natural disaster. A huge fox-like demon attacked my village and my cousin saved the village by sacrificing himself and killing the fox." She told her, using the original story from the books. "He was anything but coward…"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"**This whole Quiddich thing isn't that bad, in a way.**" Kyuubi stated, trying to comfort her vessel with some logic as she walked through the land to the Quiddich stadium. "**If Harry was to be on the broom, there might be an assassination attempt, since it would be a perfect opportunity with no one around him.**"

"Perhaps, but it is still a little unfair that I am to do this. I will be the centre of attention right away." She mumbled out loud since there was no one to hear her.

"…Almost pathetic..." The words echoed through the air, coming from nowhere in particular. Nala stopped, fully alerted, and heightened the sensitivity of her senses to the maximum. There was a quick outburst of chakra, and then nothing. She looked around again with her Byakugan, but there was no one around. Slowly, Nala started walking again, wondering about the two words she heard just now. Strangely, it expressed how she really felt right now. But the voice seemed to be comforting her, it did not sound insulting. What was even stranger, she was told the exact same thing by Itachi on the day of the massacre. Could it be that…

"**Forget about it for now, kid, you have different things to worry about.**" Kyuubi led Nala's eyes to the entrance to the stadium that was right before her. It was pretty big, but it didn't leave any amazement in Nala. She continued into the middle of the stadium and looked around. There were three golden rings on each side that must have been something like a goal, and there was a high wall with seats for the onlookers.

Nala decided to take a better look around the stadium from the bird's perspective and perhaps practice some of the harder moves she learned from Vampire the other day. She hopped on her white broom. she decided not to use Nimbus 2000 anymore, because it wasn't fast enough for her, and as she was told by the demon in her head, the broom she was riding on now had special protection seals for extra comfort and safety. "_I wonder when did I become this lazy as to actually choosing something that is not mine over my own._"

"**I told you, I've had this broom made for you, brat. It is just like the wand, why do you think it would be white with the leaf ornament on it? I would never go near a broom like that on my free will. You really are an idiot.**" Kyuubi spit, anger building up inside of her head. There was no possible way someone could be this stupid. Well, there was actually a number of things that just couldn't happen, but Kyuubi's container continuously proved that fact wrong.

Nala let the broom go to its best speed and was truly impressed. Even though she flew almost as fast as when she was learning the Hiraishin, the broom was still perfectly controllable and it took just a slight movement of her fingers to stop it or turn it around. Her mind went back to her cousin's prized technique. Even if she used a modified version of the jutsu in normal life, she never used it in battle because she didn't wanted to be linked up with the Fourth. Nala smirked as she turned the broom around and willed it to go faster while doing all types of turns. She remembered how the Fourth taught her the technique, and how she decided to create her own version of the jutsu because she couldn't stand using a technique that someone else have became so notorious for. Nala openly smiled; she was ten when she mastered the technique, and twelve when she finally managed to create her own from it, but it still wasn't finished.

"At least I managed to make the seal work on those shuriken and could excuse the color as a fashion accessory." Nala sighted as she lowered herself to the ground, feeling a presence approaching. After a lot of modification on the seal, she managed to put it on shuriken without any problem, but as a result, the steel always changed color to gold or white. Actually, it was because her shuriken and later on even kunai colored like this, she decided for the two colors to be her favorite.

"I can understand why McGonagall chose you, you are incredible." The boy named Wood told her. They shook hands and then Wood proceeded to tell her about all the different (and boring) rules there were in the game. Nala didn't understand why people liked Quiddich so much; it must have looked completely boring if one wasn't on a broom and playing. The whole lesson about rules was slow, but after it perhaps came the interesting part. "Let me see your broom." Wood directed as Nala handed him the piece of lumber.

Wood examined the strange broom. It was all white, but when he looked closer, he could see leaves inscribed in golden color along the handle. On the front, there was the same symbol as Nala wore as a belt, which he was told was a symbol of her village. The broom was long and slim, it almost looked dedicate, but from its structure, Wood figured out it was probably strong and made for harsh contact. It looked beautiful, like something celebrities would get for pictures, and it also looked really fast, yet he never saw a broom like this. "Did you get it back home?" he asked, coming to only conclusion about the broom's origin. He was an expert on them and knew very well that something like this was never created in Britain.

"No… It was a gift from a friend that thought I might need a good broom." Nala shrugged. Lying always came to her easily since she had to hide her real identity her whole life. The only people who knew about her heritage so far were Kakashi and the Third, maybe even Dumbledore, but she wasn't sure about him. "But even if it isn't of any popular brand, it is still really fast."

"Yeah, I saw your speed when you were just flying around." Wood said as he closed the box with the balls. "It looks like a good broom, I will let you use it."

"Great." Nala smiled at him. As he was walking off, she started wandering about how people will react when they'll see her on the white broom, representing the Gryffindors as the seeker. Malfoy will surely be trying to protest, but after what happened yesterday during dinner, he might not come close to her again. Nala smiled at the thought as she sealed her broom in one of the scrolls. It actually took her whole day to repair all the students' minds so they would think they never saw the red chakra around her or her transformation. Malfoy, of course was the exception to her mind work. Nala suspected that his pride would never allow him to speak of his defeat. She also wanted Malfoy to fear her a little, so he would stay out of her way.

She remembered how angry Dumbledore was and how hard he was trying to hide it. Nala wondered why he let her of the hook so easily and even agreed that words of this wouldn't reach the Hokage. Perhaps because she told him she would alter all of the students' minds so they would never remember, but she couldn't be sure. Dumbledore always seemed unpredictable at times to her.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Nala, come here for a word." George said as he and his twin already placed their hands on her and broke her free from Harry and Ron, who gave questioning looks. It was around noon when they took her away from her charge, both smirking happily. "I think we found the room that you need."

"We have been searching day and night, constantly looking over our maps of the school, battling trolls and other horrid creatures in the school…" Fred told her in devoted voice as Nala let them lead her through the school.

"… We never stopped to rest or eat, never minding our own exhaustion until we found the perfect chamber you desired us to find." George took the word from Fred. "The room we found has great location on the third floor, no one ever goes there, not even Filch, which of course will higher the prize,…"

"… It is big with lots of storage places, a constant cool temperature, and even pillows and few comfortable chairs. There are four entrances to the chamber from every side so you can get in from any side of the castle…" The twins speeded their gait and now practically dragged Nala behind them.

"All that for an amazing prize of…" They opened the door and let Nala go first.

"…ALL YOUR PRANK ITEMS!!" The Weasley twins shouted in unison. Nala looked around the room. It was full of spider webs and dust, but otherwise it was perfect. After some cleaning it would serve the purpose she had in mind to the fullest. They were on the third floor, not so far away from the dog, but not that close either. Just like the twins mentioned, it had good, chilly temperature that could be used to store all the things she got in Diagon Ally. The room was divided into two parts, the first part was empty and of the size of a small gym, and the second part full with cabinets and few mismatched chairs. Nala turned to the twins who were waiting for her to say something.

"I'll take it." She told them, enjoying the looks of pleasure on their faces. "If you would kindly follow me into the Gryffindor tower so I could give you your reward."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Between patrolling the school, classes, Quiddich practices, and the late night trainings in her new room, the days passed by quickly. September was already gone and it was now 9th of October. Nala was one of the few people who could say that they had two birthdays. The first birthday that officially proclaimed her a ten year old was to be tomorrow, October 10th, but the birthday that made her twenty-five and that Nala valued the most was 8th of October.

The strange dates of her birthdays felt somewhat pathetic, since there was only one day between them, so there was really no need to have two of them anyway. Nala was a little bit surprised when nobody at the school remembered her birthday. Even despite her attempts to stay in the shadows, she was as popular as Harry, maybe even more, and she had a suspicion that there was a fanclub dedicated to her. The birth date was written in at least ten books, yet no one remembered. Nala didn't want any presents, a mumbled 'Happy Birthday' would probably make her day, just like Itachi used to say.

Nala shifted back to reality as she heard the beat of wings, announcing the arrival of the morning post. She looked through the owls and identified both of hers. She also saw the white 'eagle' between the birds. Nala wondered just what the bird was doing there; she didn't come in any direct contact with the bird since Diagon Ally, and therefore was surprised to see it now. It flew around her few times and sang few tunes before disappearing as fast as it came. The tunes completely relaxed Nala, making her breathing more regular and stable for a moment.

After the owls left, Nala stared at the little hill of letters and scrolls. There were around ten letters and few scrolls. She placed all of the post in her pockets, understanding that if she would try to read them here, the whole school would end up knowing what was in them. Also, it was mission protocol to never open classified material in front of people.

"Nala, what the bloody hell happened that you got so many letters?" Ron asked as she struggled to get out of her seat.

"Oh, nothing." she shrugged. "My birthday was yesterday so maybe somebody at home remembered."

"Why didn't you tell us?! We would have given you something." Harry contributed to their conversation. Nala smiled at them, not knowing how to react to their sudden interest. Back in Konoha, it was unlike people to care about any aspect of her life, except for her dying date.

"Guess it never occurred to me that you wanted to know. And even if I didn't tell you, there are about a dozen of books that mention the date." Both of the boys lowered their heads in shame. Seeing this, Nala widened her fake, but faithful looking smile. "Don't worry about it, I didn't want anything anyway. Now, if you excuse me, I would like to read my letters before classes start."

"Sure. Bye!" They waved as she started running to the Gryffindor tower. Once she got to the empty dormitory, she sorted out the letters. There were two from her family in Konoha, five personal letters from jounins that she used to work with like Morino Ibiki or Anko. She shivered at the thought of the missions she shared with her. Anko often acted on instinct and almost the whole duration of the missions was spent battling for leadership. Somehow, if they ended up together the leader for the mission was always different, as if the Hokage enjoyed the sight of two crazy female jounins fighting. There was also a letter from her friend in Suna and a smaller letter from the Komatsu clan that was raising her cousin's son, the sole reason she had the Kyuubi inside of her. (A/N: I am honoring here my good friend Urara Komatsu, so if you're reading this, be happy, you got a clan named after yourself XD)

Naruto, as he was called, must have turned twelve around this time. When the fox attacked, he was taken on Yondaime's order by a clan that lived near the Cloud hidden village to be raised as their own. Komatsu was a powerful samurai clan with a good political influence and there were many ninjas that seek out their teachings every year. Nala believed Naruto to be in good hands with them. She opened the letter and started reading:

_Dear Auntie,_

_ The fact that you accepted a year long mission came as a surprise to me. I thought that you never permitted yourself to be away from the Uchiha bastards r more than a month. I finished my ninja training few weeks ago, and I thought about applying for a place between the Cloud shinobi for few years to get more experience. My sword training will take few more years, or so Fuminori-sensei says. We'll see about that. (A/N: Also a real person, my Kenjutsu sensei for a change)_

_I congratulate you on your birthday. I wanted to give you new shuriken and kunai, perhaps a new katana, but since you are in a civilian school I thought it wouldn't be the best idea for the owl to carry it. I believe that your gift will arrive shortly._

_I feel really weird giving the letter to a bird that I paid for to show up. I have no idea how could the bird know where to deliver the paper, but I guess it is one of the things they call magic._

_Farewell, Yours truly_

_Naruto Namikaze Komatsu._

Nala sighted at how he addressed her. Naruto usually liked to make her mad by calling her his aunt, which made Nala feel old. She put the letter away, deciding to reread it later and moved onto the next letter. Shuichi wrote about what was happening, and his letter was almost the same as Sasuke's, which also offered an insight on what was happening in the academy. Sasuke never wrote that much, if he ever wrote to her at all.

She redirected her attention to the two scrolls. One had the Hokage's symbol and a green color, the outside itself telling her that it was just an informative scroll. The second scroll looked more personal; it was red and was much bigger than the previous one. Full of interest, Nala opened the scroll to see a sealing kanji. The symbols started glowing and give off smoke. "_Shoot._" Nala mentally cursed as she threw away the scroll so she wouldn't be hit by the explosion once whatever was sealed inside got out.

The smoke cleared to reveal a tall person standing on the remains of the scroll. He looked up, and then traced his eye over the room.

"Yo, Nala! Happy Birthday!" Kakashi exclaimed, his one visible eye curving up into an expression many believed to be a smile. Nala sweat-dropped at the older man's expression. Without a word she quickly moved towards him, took the perverted book he was reading, and then tore it into shreds. Kakashi just stood there, an empty look on his face, with his arm extended like it was before when the orange book was still in one piece. He seemed to be examining his empty hand, as if trying to figure out what was missing.

"Baka!" Nala screamed at him. "You are in the girl's dormitory; you can't read that idiotic thing here!" Kakashi just patiently waited for her to finish. "And what are you even doing here? It's in the middle of the school year, didn't it occurred to you that it might be suspicious for** you** to be hanging around?"

"Of course it did, but this is your birthday we are talking about here, sorry I am late for it by the way, but I got lost on the…" Kakashi answered, taking out his spare book, much to Nala's chagrin.

"I get it." She gently cut him off. Nala ignored the book for now, but decided to use it later as a practice target for her fire jutsu. "But is it really because of my birthday that you are here? I'm getting sick of that word, you know."

"Well, I brought you presents." Kakashi ignored the question. He started shuffling in his backpack. "Here, this is an unconscious present from Yamato." He held up a little bag with blood as Nala visibly gasped. Kakashi was just implying to absorb the wood bloodline from Yamato's DNA. "From Anko, a set of kunai from some kind of special steel I have no idea about. And a chakra armor from Hanzo and Hikari Hyuuga." He piled few more items onto her bed with a rough explanation of what they were. She got a bandana from the interrogation specialist Morino Ibiki, a blank set of scrolls varying in sizes from Iruka, and a new katana that was sent from Naruto.

"You are kidding, right?" She asked him. Right now, it felt like being in some sort of strange illusion. She held her head with both hands. Since when did her life become so weird and idiotic? She was in a wizard school hundreds of miles away from home, in one of the highest towers of a medieval castle, with a white haired and deadly ANBU giving her birthday presents? This couldn't have been right.

"Nala, you okay?" Kakashi asked as he watched the young girl holding her head and the strange aura that was forming around her. It wasn't killer intent, rather something else.

"Of course not!" She shouted at him, convinced that she just lost the last of her sanity. "What are you even doing here? And don't give me that crap about birthday presents." Kakashi narrowed his eyes at Nala. Who would have ever thought that acting as a civilian for few weeks would leave her exposed to so many feelings? He actually liked this transformation. After the Uchiha massacre, she was always emotionless, and now it was easier to read her.

"I was sent by Hokage-sama to see how you were doing. I am also to collect the mission report in the one week I will be staying here, and evaluate the situation to some extent." Kakashi closed the orange book with a loud snap. He quietly looked on as Nala got herself under control and replaced her shaken image with the usual emotionless mask. He didn't know why, but it comforted him to see her all collected together again, perhaps the fact, that she was back to normal awoke the feeling that everything was just like it used to be. She stood up.

"Follow me." Nala said as she blurred out of vision. Keeping in mind that she was (unfortunately) of higher rank than him, he obediently did what she said. They jumped through the castle at a speed only a trained eye could see, appearing on one floor or the other from time to time. Nala silently cursed that is was morning; she was supposed to be in transfiguration class by this time. She ran up the steep tower and jumped through the window – her favorite way to get to Dumbledore's office. He was walking in circles as usual, which earned him a chuckle from Kakashi. Dumbledore immediately looked up, starting to grow immune to the unexpected appearances of the ten year old.

"We have a problem." Nala said, pointing behind her where Kakashi stood.

"Ah, yes, I was already informed of his stay by the Hokage." Dumbledore nodded, and then proceeded to say in Japanese: "_I'm pleased to meet you, Kakashi-san._" Nala narrowed her eyes at their exchange.

"You mean to tell me that you knew of his arrival, yet I was not informed?" Nala's voice sounded dangerous. "Well that ends now." Her response startled both men. The killer intent that leaked from her before disappeared and Nala looked like she all of the sudden had more authority.

"What do you mean?" Dumbledore asked, taken slightly aback by the sudden transformation. Right now, she behaved exactly the same as the Fourth Hokage, for some unknown reason.

"To ensure this mission's success, the client is supposed to tell the hired ninja all of the information." She spoke, her voice cold with reason. "I was willing to overlook this rule once, when you instructed McGonagall how to act around me without my consent, but I will not overlook it again. I demand to know everything that could be hazardous for the mission from now on, including the information about the third floor. And that is not a request, that is an order."

Nobody said anything for a while. Dumbledore seemed to be going over her words, probably thinking about how he should react to her sudden burst of authority. Kakashi just stood there, looking as blank as ever. "**Well look at this, your little act surprised them so much they were left speechless.**" Kyuubi said to Nala mockingly.

"_I just hope I didn't overdue it._" Nala answered the demon, glancing over to Dumbledore, but not letting her expression to change. "_There is a reason I act like a ten year old most of the time. If I ever show this type of authority that I learned from Arashi, people just stare at me, since they judge me by my body._"

"**Yeah,**" The nine tailed demon snorted. "**But you should do this more often, it provides me with some entertainment.**"

"_I don't think it will be necessary._" She answered, seeing that Dumbledore changed the expression on his face.

"Understood, Nala-_san_." He said, catching Nala off-guard. Since when did she get respect? The day just kept getting weirder. "Kakashi is to stay in your secret room for the duration of the week, and as I was told, use an invisibility jutsu to get around the castle unseen. I will provide you with the information requested in the next few days." He made a move that implied a bow. "I apologize."

"**Whoa, who would have ever thought that a simple change in your behavior would do so much damage to others?**" Kyuubi asked her vessel as Nala led Kakashi to her secret chamber. The place was still empty, but it had the perfect location. Since the room was close to the three headed dog, she didn't have to worry about anyone finding it. After about ten hours of cleaning the chamber, it took on a form of a good room. She also got some wood from the forest and made a Japanese style floor for the first part of the room so she could practice on it barefoot.

Nala showed Kakashi around the room, grateful that he didn't understand too much English yet so he wouldn't be able to read any of her forbidden books. It would have been impossible to do so anyway since she placed magic charms on most of them, so Kakashi would probably be unable to break them. She muttered few instructions to him about the place and then threatened him by death if he ever tried to go somewhere before disappearing in the direction of the morning classes.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"_So Kakashi is here too?_" He thought as he jumped away from the castle, hidden by the shadows of the forbidden forest. He didn't expect for Kakashi to be here, it was a cross in his plans. He unconsciously gritted his teeth. He almost exposed himself before when Nala attended the first Quidditch practice, and having a tracking specialist finding him was a risk he wasn't planning on taking. Everything needed to work out exactly as he planned; everything was _supposed to_ work out as he planned.

"We have a problem, Hatake is here." He said to his partner once he was deep in the woods.

"Hatake, the Copycat?" The other man smirked. "I wanted to fight him. But as good as he is, he will not be a problem."

"Perhaps, but I don't want to be seen by anyone. I don't want a scratch on Nala." The man that looked like the leader said to the other, still breathing faster because of his long run from the castle all the way to the other side of the woods where they had their base.

"Since you found out of her real heritage, you are like obsessed with her. I don't understand why we can't just hand her over to someone who is interested, like the Akatsuki."

"Akatsuki is a useless organization. If so, they deserve death even more than the demon vessels they are trying to collect."

"Those are strong words." The man frowned at his leader-partner's thoughts. "They might be your downfall." He said only to find the cold steel of a kunai touching his neck. The amount of killer intent his leader-partner was releasing made even his skin shiver in fear.

"What makes you think that I would ever consider your words?" The kunai was slowly removed from his neck. "The Akatsuki isn't a threat anymore, they are too scared to do anything, now with Orochimaru gone."

"Maybe, but I am tired of waiting here." The man slowly recovered from the previous half-attack. From experience he knew never to disobey the person that was now standing before him – to disobey would mean to die. He blocked out the sigh that was forming on his lips and placed his face under an emotional mask. "Killing the stupid creatures of this forest was fun the first week, but I am sick of it now. I want human blood on my hands."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Me: (looks happily at Ian who is tied up in the middle on the room) I thought I was clear when I said that this is my world and even if you are the evil beta, you still don't have that much power in here.**

**Ian: (stops glaring daggers and kunai at Me, smirks and looks at something behind Me) I don't think I am the one you should be worried about.**

**Kakashi: (angry) You destroyed THE book… (angrier) NEVER hurt THE book!! NEVER!!!! (starts running towards Me, a kunai in hand)**

** Me: (not scared, takes out a new edition of Icha Icha and uses it as a shield – Kakashi instantly stops) See the book? See…? (points at it, shakes it, then throws it in the distance) Go get it, boy! Fetch!**

**Ian: ………**

** Me: (turns to Ian) See? I have absolute control over all your little lives. Anyway, please REVIEW before Ian realizes that he also has some power over this world since he is the beta tes…**

** Ian: Wrong move… (instantly free and now with a sword in hand)**

**Me: Oh great… He's trying to kill me, again! (starts running) This whole thing is getting a bit old…**

**Kakashi: (now with the book) Then try reading Icha Icha. It NEVER gets old!**


	9. A Peculiar Thing

**Disclaimer: The plan involving a cage, a biscuit and the oversized guinea-pig didn't work, so Harry Potter and Naruto aren't mine. **

Chapter 9

Nala gave a sigh as she was walking to the Great Hall for breakfast. It was raining outside so she had to do her morning training inside under Kakashi's guidance. Even though entertaining, working on anything with the white haired man was extremely annoying and slow. She walked into the Hall to find only few people there; it was still early in the morning. Nala felt that something was out of place, but couldn't figure out what. Every thing felt distant but she assumed that it was because of the strange training session she had today.

Moving slowly and steadily among the long tables, she passed a quick glance to everyone in the large room. Suddenly, hearing a familiar yet unexpected sound, she twisted around in its direction. Nala was on high alert even before she saw the owner of the sound, but the person that was now looking at her caught her off guard.

Nala tried to put herself together as she watched her so-called brother Itachi Uchiha take the bloodied sword out of Harry Potter's still warm body. He had no emotion in his face, to him it was just another kill. Nala felt her anger building up inside of her again, like the last time she saw the Uchiha. She activated her Sharingan, feeling a strange sentiment in her eyes. Everybody in the hall started screaming while trying to get as far away from Itachi as they could. Taking a sword out of her scroll in the sleeves, she started running forward, certain that she would kill Itachi. He looked at her with no emotion, but he didn't do anything to stop her. They got closer together…

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX **

Kakashi watched his friend and captain as she slept on the floor next to him, occasionally turning. Her chakra was leaking out so much it sent cold shivers down Kakashi's spine, something that didn't happen since the Kyuubi attack ten years ago. He slowly stood up and walked to the dark window. So it was happening. When the Hokage told him that Itachi was spotted and was heading for Nala, he didn't believe it, yet Nala was now lying on the futon, caught in one of the strongest genjutsu that existed, and he couldn't do anything to help her. He could only keep her body safe and hope she would win against what ever she was fighting.

He looked out of the window and unable to do anything, he quietly watched the dark figure looking his way, two blood red eyes shining under his hood.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

She stood over the two bloodied bodies, looking at her hands. Blood. Blood was everywhere she could see.

"Why?" she whispered into the room. "Why did it have to end like this?" The room became darker as she fell to her knees, bathing herself in the red liquid all around. "Everyone…" At that point, her whispers became sobs. The ANBU captain was actually crying. She felt the red tears exit her face as the room turned completely black, the red moon being the only orientation point.

Itachi was nowhere to be found, the great hall also disappeared. Instead, there was a dark form resembling a person not too far in front of her. The form got lighter and lighter, eventually details forming. Nala's eyes once again widened as she figured out who it was, standing there with a wicked smile.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Kakashi felt the chakra coming from Nala abruptly change, and within a second, he was at her side again. Her eyes were tightly shut, but tears still made their way out. His eyes widened as he saw her awakening, still crying the bloody red tears. She opened her eyes and fixed her gaze on Kakashi, fourth tomoe forming in her activated Sharingan.

"Help.." Nala managed to whisper in Kakashi's direction. He nodded, and then took her in his arms. She closed her eyes again and slowly put the fragile looking arms around his neck so she wouldn't fall as he started running.

Kakashi could actually feel the amount of pain his young comrade was going through. Not even the Kyuubi could stop so much pain, he guessed. Kakashi didn't really knew what happened to Nala, but judging from the fact that the genjutsu was cast by Uchiha Itachi himself, it couldn't have been good. He regretted not telling Nala anything about Itachi's location; had he did it, this could have been prevented. Her embrace tightened; a sign that she was putting up with even more pain. "_Please don't let it be too late._" He fastened his pace, jumping from wall to wall and staircase to staircase in the direction of Dumbledore's office. If anyone, Dumbledore should be able to help.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Nala woke up to darkness. Her whole body felt sore as if she just battled a troll, and she couldn't see anything. From what her fast regaining senses told her, she was in the infirmary with someone sitting next to her, but she couldn't make out who it was. Nala could hear the soft banging of rain outside, but there was no information about what time it was. She brought her hand up to her eyes, only to touch the fabric of bandages blindfolding her. Nala did a mind check of all her body organs; everything in her body was working properly except maybe her eyes that were the only thing covered with bandages.

"Good to see you awake." She heard Kakashi's voice next to her. She turned her head in his probable direction.

"…the hell happened?" She managed to choke out, ignoring the awful taste in her mouth.

"A genjutsu." If Nala didn't know any better, she would say Kakashi blamed himself for it. "It was a pretty damn good one too, the caster was Uchiha Itachi." Nala jumped up at that comment. She tried to take off the bandages on her eyes so she could provide Kakashi with a death glare for not telling her, but he stoped her hand before she could do so. He brought her hand down, yet didn't let go. "Nala, I know you probably want to kill me now for going against the protocol and not telling you as first as I came, but…"

"It's fine…" Nala heard herself say. Her mind flashed back to her birthday and the two scrolls she got, one of them being green and with information. "It was in the info scroll, wasn't it?"

"Hai."

"Then it's partially my fault. According to the rules, I was supposed to read the thing before anything else." She admitted. "What was the purpose of the genjutsu?"

"Ma, that's where it gets confusing. The genjutsu somehow altered your Sharingan and…"

"It did what?!" She yelled at him, no longer caring if anyone heard her or not.

"I have no idea about what the effect of the alternation are, only that when you looked at me during the short moment you were awake, your Sharingan had four tomoe instead of three. Why would Itachi do this? I don't know. Why would he even risk coming all the way out here? I don't know either. It doesn't really make any sense to me. Do you at least remember what happened in the genjutsu?" He quickly finished. Nala could hear the distress and anguish in his voice.

"No… All I remember is blood. A lot of it. But I can't get rid of the fact that there was something important in the genjutsu. Anyway, how long have I been out?" She asked, signalizing to Kakashi to change the subject. She was surprised at how relatively calm she was, but suspected that the shock of all of the events would come later, probably once the bandage would have been taken off.

"About five hours, and he haven't left your side for a minute during that time." A new voice, belonging to a certain old wizard, told her, coming from the other side than where Kakashi was. Even with a blindfold on, she could see how Kakashi just got a little red under his mask. "I am glad you are feeling better. It was bloody hell excusing you from today's classes without telling a cause of the absence."

"Thank you, but that was not necessary. I apologize for causing such trouble and for leaving my charge, and I will accept any punishment." She said, for once following the protocol. Only now did she realized that she could have sabotaged the whole mission because of her incapability to see through the more complex genjutsu. It was just a genjutsu after all, so there shouldn't have been any problem at all. "When will I be let out?"

"There will not be any need for punishment, Nala. Right now you need rest and you will be let out in a week approximately," he replied to the question, already waiting for the wave of arguments that was sure to come.

"I feel fine already, with all due respect, I can continue with the mission today afternoon already. It will also lower the amount of curiosity of schoolmates upon my condition due to the prolonged stay in here." She heard herself say again. For a second, she was impressed with herself and the ability to say such a long sentence without stuttering, keeping in mind her current pitiful condition and the awful taste.

"Ma, I think it's better if you say in bed at least until tomorrow morning then we'll reach a compromise." Kakashi slowly stated, doubting his ability to live once Nala got out of the bandages. If it will not be Nala to kill him for not telling information, then it would be Dumbledore for taking Nala's side in the argument, and revealing too much information about the attack. Either way, he was dead. "_I'm definitively too old for this._"

"Fine, one day. That is probably enough for the fox's chakra to remove any problems from my body. Then I'll resume active duty." Nala got comfortable in the bed once again.

"Very well then. Please rest up." Dumbledore said, his voice carrying a hint of the easy defeat. He turned, and with paced steps, he exited the infirmary. Nala turned her head in Kakashi's probable direction again, allowing herself a weak smile.

"And Kakashi, even through it's really comforting, you can let go of my hand now." She would give everything to see his face right now. (A/N: Bet you forgot about the hand XD)

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Itachi stood, watching the scene in front of him with his unemotional black orbs. After a while, deciding that he had enough of stalking, he jumped away from the window and into the rainy morning. The sky was so clouded that the visibility almost didn't change from how it was at night that day.

"Let's move, our objective has been reached." He told to the shark-man who was waiting for him to show up. Kisame gritted at that, realising that as long as he would be Itachi's partner, he would never get what he wanted.

"I wanted to fight that Hatake brat, why don't we…" 

"I said, move." Itachi didn't raise his voice, he didn't change the tone; yet Kisame still got chills from the boy's - no - man's eyes. Muttering under his breath, he got up and started in the direction of the Forbidden Forest. Itachi looked back to the castle for a second. With any luck, he wouldn't see his 'sister' again in a long time.

"_Mangeqyu Sharingan is a peculiar thing, don't you agree, little sister? That is my birthday gift to you._" He thought as he used his speed to catch up to his partner, who was already a good way in the woods.

_Authors note: _

** You (The reader): You! You good for nothing, anything… only five pages? (you don't want to know how scary you look like now) **

** Me (Scared): It wasn't my fault, really! I am sooooo sorry that I was so lazy and even if I had it written for months, I didn't post it! (shuts her mouth with both hands) **

** You: The think was written and you didn't post it?! For how long?? **

** Me: Erm… about two months? (shuts her mouth with both hands, again) **

** You (looks really scary now): …………….. **

** All the characters I ever talked with in this note: RUUUUUN!!!!!! **


	10. A New Teacher?

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my insanity and imagination (hopefuly)**

Chapter 10

Just when she thought it couldn't get any worse, classes came once again. Nala sighted as she fought the urge to kill Quirrell in all his stuttering glory. Exactly two days had passed from when she was attacked, and she didn't feel any better. She didn't know the full effects of the Sharingan mutation yet as Dumbledore refused to excuse her from lying in the bed in the infirmary and the classes the last two days, but as far as she tried, it was much more powerful that the regular Sharingan she had before, not to mention that her sight was much more detailed.

The problem now with her eyes was that they had changed color even with her Sharingan deactivated. Her eyes were no longer all blue, but they were partly golden, bit like her hair. She looked even stranger now than she did before and it didn't spare her the questioning looks, as nobody knew so far what really happened to her to get her in the infirmary for a whole day.

Another wannabe disaster was that after a rather long discussion, it was decided that Kakashi would be staying. Not just for the week, but at least until the Christmas holidays as she was told. Nala didn't think she could survive this. Hatake Kakashi was one of the ANBU brats that she loved to work with, but could barely stand in her personal time off missions. He was that annoying.

Nala produced her trademark sigh again and redirected all her attention to the book she was reading under her desk. She often read some of the books she got from library in her Defence Against Dark Arts class, simply because it was too bothersome to try and make out what Quirrell was saying and she knew all of the spells he was trying to teach anyway.

Every time and again, she glanced up from her book to look around the class and check on her charge. Harry was visibly struggling with what Quirrell was saying, Hermione was hectically taking notes, while Ron, it seemed, was just thinking about what kind of food could be prepared with the onions… or was that garlic? that were all around the classroom.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Nala, are you sure you are okay?" Wood asked her again for what it seemed like a hundredth time, as they walked towards the Quiddich pitch for Nala's first practice with the team. They were already in their robes, for Nala didn't want to change in the changing room and Wood was happy to comply any ridiculous demands from who he believed was the next star of the Gryffindor house. Needles to say, Nala didn't share his opinions. She looked at Wood again as he was hopping around her like an exited puppy and wondered what was wrong with the boys head. "I can't have you sick, we have to be in top shape if we are to win the Cup this year."

"I am fine, Oliver, I understand that you are worried about the Cup, but stop asking me!" She told him in a way that would make Itachi jealous. They walked through the gate and hopped onto their brooms. It felt good to be in the air again. Nala concluded that she loved flying because she was of a wind affinity and she loved anything to do with air.

In few seconds, the rest of the team joined them in the air, all excitedly talking about having a new Seeker. Most of the girls admired Nala's white broom and the boys started admiring it as well when they saw how fast it could go.

Nala felt quite well during this time. She felt there was nothing to worry about in the air. It was a great feeling. Once she was sure no one was watching her, she activated her Sharingan. She wanted to try out if there was any difference when being in the air compared to being on the ground. She looked around and for a moment lost herself admiring the sight. Every player was leaving a slightly different chakra signature behind them as they flew, but it was different with the mangekyou than with the normal Sharingan. While with the normal bloodline she could see chakra signatures that were all the same blue color, with her new eyes she could make up something of an essence of the players, which surged with different colors. From the corner of her eye, she made out the rusty red color of the twins' essence, just when they were punching one of the bludgers (sp?) towards her. Her instincts took over and Nala turned her body slightly to the right to dodge the iron ball with only centimetres to spare. She then forwarded an Uchiha glare towards the smirking twins after deactivating her Sharingan.

"Well, little Nala, we couldn't…" one of them started with obvious delight in his voice, through Nala couldn't figure out if he was delighted from her not being hit, or the fact that he had the chance to catch her of guard.

"And that we could not, oh yes my dear brother." confirmed the other, who Nala finally identified as George.

"Just let you lie uninformed of the large importance…"

"That are our jobs in the team."

"There is nothing to fear though, ickle first year…"

"As our bats…"

"…shall never be pointed in your direction." they finished in unison, like always.

"I'll be taking you up on that offer." she answered. "It would be good to have that _thing_ after me." she pointed the way the bludger had gone. She opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by Oliver screaming something a bit inappropriate and then telling them to get back to work.

Rest of the practice passed without any other disturbances, for which Nala was grateful. The practice took approximately an hour and a half, with another hour of Wood explaining their new strategies. Nala found those seriously flawed; some parts of the plans must have been a result of an after midnight studying and a tired mind.

After the horror hour of pain, the team finally emerged from the pit again, only to find an ominous and strange looking person smiling at them; or rather, at the youngest member of the team. Nala just stared at his form.

"Yo!" Kakashi put his hand up in a greeting. "That was a really nice practice!" He allowed the team to stare at him. Fred and George were the first ones to get out of the trance of surprise, as usual.

"Well, George, It seems that we not only have a strange man in our school, but he seems to be a stalker as well." Fred said, going around Kakashi to see him from all sides. The copy-cat just stared at the twins, obviously confused.

"Yes, Fred, it seems that we indeed do. What shall be the course of our actions concerning him?" Fred meanwhile finished his inspection, and just shrugged it off. Kakashi sweat-dropped at their momentary course of action.

"Look, I am just an apprentice of the Transfiguration teacher. I… I was just getting myself familiar with the grounds." He raised his hands in self defence, still smiling, a bit lamely now. Nala opened her mouth to say something very rude and disrespectful to the 'new apprentice of a teacher', but decided against it since she couldn't figure out anything mean enough. "…Well, I am actually from Japan, like Nala here is, and to have silver hair and wear a mask is considered cool back there…" She heard the ANBU say to the twins who now happily engaged in conversation. Nala went over to them.

"Right, and the next great fashion are green spandex suits, ne, Kakashi?" She faked a smile, and enjoyed how Kakashi paled at the mention of his eternally annoying rival. She then grabbed his hand and started to lead him away, waving to the rest of the now confused team. "Well, I am sorry to interrupt this great conversation, but me and Kakashi have a lot of catching up to do, right? After all we are from the same country." she started leading him from the crowd as quickly as she could.

"What ever you say, my love." Kakashi said the last two words loud enough for the whole team to hear them. He was pinned to the ground the next second, but didn't mind the increasing pain as the enraged girl started to drag him by the collar; for that comment, it was worth it.

To say that Nala was as enraged as Kakashi thought was an understatement. Not only had he revealed himself to the whole Quiddich team, but didn't hesitate to share those news with them! What was worse, nobody told her about this part of the plans either.

"**Hmm, seems that your authority look you gave them last time already wore off.**" Kyuubi said thoughtfully in her mind as Nala made sure to drag Kakashi through the worst mud and stones as she could. "**I advise you increase the dose this time, if you want the same result. In a way, it is like drugs.**" Nala mentally nodded at the comment. She then proceeded to walk up the wall to Dumbledore's office, already under an illusion, since even her anger couldn't get her to stop being careful. Once she got to the window, she threw Kakashi through, not bothering with being gentle. Then she walked in herself.

"Can somebody explain to me why I wasn't informed of anything, again?" She said, still silently fuming over Kakashi. She looked up to see Dumbledore's eyes twinkling at her.

"But we haven't reached any decision as of yet." He said, completely calm. "Kakashi-kun will be needed to help you with figuring out what happened to your eyes during the attack. We pondered the thought for a while and agreed that it would be useless if he couldn't freely move around the castle and this was the best idea we had. I then sent Kakashi to collect you so we could discuss it, and…" He glanced at the Copy ninja who was still on the floor, rubbing is sore chin which he landed on. "…and it seems that he had gone ahead and told you as if the plan was already in session."

Nala closed her eyes for a while. It was a smart trick, indeed. By sharing the news in front of the Quiddich team, Kakashi had ensured that they would have to follow through with the plan, since by the end of the day, the whole school would know about this new teacher. But the recognition of such a well made plan still didn't take away any of her previous anger. She thought for a moment, and then opening her eyes she addressed Kakashi.

"Very well, Kakashi will be allowed to become a teacher if the Hokage consents to this. He will, however, report directly and only to me every week and take on monitoring the grounds," she let an evil smile slip by, "very thoughtfully, and at any weather."

Kakashi slightly gulped at the open declaration of war. No doubt that by the end of the first week, he will be run to the ground and sick because of some weather alternation jutsu _somebody_ just decided to practice. The fact that he had to obey the orders of the ten year old before him, her being of higher rank than him and all, didn't help soothe his worries of the future at all.

Despite all of his worries, he still just nodded and smiled at the girl before him. She smiled back at him, through he doubted that she was thinking of anything beneficial for him. "Oh wait, wouldn't Kakashi need to learn magic and get a wand if he is to teach?" She turned her attention back to the Headmaster. "I assume you already took care of that?" Dumbledore just winked at her.

"I hoped that you could show Hatake-san through the Diagonal Ally on the next weekend." He smiled a bit. "There you could get him a wand, some books, and some acceptable clothes." He winked again at the last comment. Apparently he noticed that Kakashi had no fashion sense. She thought about the proposal for a little time.

"**Take it, of course,**" Kyuubi hissed, "**We can at least get a replacement on that unicorn blood you so stupidly lost in that bet.**"

"_I don't think they sell that anywhere on Diagonal Ally or _near_ it._" She told the demon fox before speaking out loud. "Very well, but I will need some money and also someone who will take care of my charge while I am gone, as well as cover up about where I am." She listed the things, using her fingers. Dumbledore gave her a nod and a compassionate smile to Kakashi, and then showed them out of the office.

Nala suppressed a sigh as she made her way up to the Gryffindor girls showers. She couldn't believe she was stuck with that clown. She shook her head; one think she knew for sure, the life in Hogwarts would be anything but boring now.

_**Author's Notes:**_

**Me: ……**

**Kakashi (sighting): S****he will probably blow up any moment.**

**Me: YEEEES! I did it! I did it! I did it! Wooo-Hoooo!!**

**Lee: Yosh! The flames of youth shining brightly!! What did you achieve?!**

**Me: I got my parents to let me move out from home to Scotland to a boarding school!**

**Hermione: Wow that's wonderful! Are you going to Hogwarts?**

**Me: No, but its still sooo cool that I won this battle! And how did you get here, anyway?**

**Hermione: The boundaries of you dimension can be crossed by anyone who gets closer to your main character, or who you consciously allow here. That is why.**

**Me: Oh… Damn it! You're saying that I can't let Nala close to anyone bad if I don't want them haunting me here?**

**Itachi (just appeared): ….**

**Hermione (not noticing anything): I also found out that any powers you imagine with a person here, although not necessarily true in the real world, the character will have.**

**Me: Oh, we are saf****e then. I think I only imagined Itachi to be an Animagi.**

**Kakashi: What kind of animagi? (gazes at Itachi who is steadily turning into a huge black dragon with red eyes from his book)**

**Me: Hmm… ups?**


End file.
